


Phantom Twins

by ghostanimal



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, M/M, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Other, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-14 12:38:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 27,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15388935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostanimal/pseuds/ghostanimal
Summary: Rewritten AU of the series: Danny followed his twin sister into the portal in hopes of fixing it. They did more than fix it. With the help of their best friends Sam and Tucker, they struggle to learn about their powers, protect their hometown and live their everyday high-school lives with the help of new friends and hindrance of new foes. Multiple ships, contains OCs, contains phandom canons and trans!danny





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is a personal passion project I've had for a long, long time and purely self-indulgent. I've worked on it a lot. I'm still working on it. It's going to take forever to update, honestly. I love this AU of mine a lot. When I originally began writing it, I had a different basic idea and almost no direction. It's changed, a lot (there's actually overarching plot stuff and actual...plans written out). I don't expect anybody to love it. It's just something I really want to get written down finally for my own sake. It's going to be written in an episode style format.
> 
> Some things to note: Trans!Danny. To clarify, I thought the beauty of trans!Danny was the idea that Danny was a boy in his ghost form because ghosts are supposed to be a reflection of who the person really is on the inside. 
> 
> There will be OCs and original episodes, as well as re-written canon episodes (OCs ranging from the misc random students/other friends the main group has to very story important OCs). I will be including some fancanons like ghost hunger and ghost language down the line. It's purely how I'd imagine DP to be if I had originally written the show. I don't want to spoil the main ships, as some are meant to be somewhat of a surprise, but I will warn you that it's not DannyxSam or DannyxOC. Some characters will be OOC, and this is on purpose. Also, later on, I will be using a good friend's OC that I have permission to use.
> 
> For a while, the episodes will be re-written canon episodes with only small flavored differences. However, please bare with me. I honestly really love most of the DP episodes that I think are just fine, and I am putting my own minor spin on some of them, but there will be a lot of original episodes or drastically re-written canon episodes too, and a lot of episodes have been rearranged to make more timeline sense and to keep a consistent overarching story theme that I have planned. For a taste, I have 4 "season" with about 20 episodes each planned (including at least one new "tv movie" of sorts). Canon DP has 53 episodes.
> 
> It won't be until about episode 5 that you'll begin seeing new characters and season one won't have many original episodes (only two if I'm being honest at the current time). You'll see a majority of them in season two onwards.

Danielle groaned as she slipped into the backseat of the Fenton Ghost RV. She immediately curled up in a seat, sighing heavily. She lazily buckled herself in, tucking her knees up to her chest. Danny followed her lead, curling up in the seat opposite of hers once he was buckled in as well.

"God, I've slept so much but I'm still exhausted," Danielle complained, and Danny groaned his agreement.

"That's what happens when you receive the kind of shock you two did," one of the nurses laughed, shifting to move the wheelchair she had used to escort Danny out off to the side.

"Yes, it's a miracle you two survive," the second one commented, shutting the door for them. The window was still open, and the twins could continue to hear the nurses.

"Now make sure you keep the bandages fresh, used the prescribed creams and medicines, and if you guys have any problems, just call your primary care doctor," one of the nurses explained to their father. Jack Fenton was nodding slowly, taking all of the information in carefully so that he could repeat it to Maddie when they got home.

"Anything specific we should be looking for?" he questioned. One of the nurses confirmed it, and began to talk, but Danny tuned her out. He glanced over at his sister, who seemed to be fast asleep.

"Hey Dani?" he called out quietly. She cracked open an eye, and he broke into a tired grin. "We lived." She closed her eyes again, giving a small chuckle.

"Barely, it feels like," she groaned, cuddling into her hoodie. "I just hope I don't get a lot of scarring."

Danny frowned at her. Scarring was her main concern? He glanced at his legs, where his primary scarring and damage had been done, then to hers, and he shifted to lean more into the seat, closing his eyes as well.

"Your legs are invisible again," he pointed out to her. Danielle grumbled, and she tiredly leaned over for a blanket their dad had brought them, and she threw it over herself, cuddling into it.

"There," she sighed. "I can't believe that one doctor never saw you floating."

"What do you mean?" Danny questioned, lazily glancing at her. She laughed, but stayed snuggled up.

"You float in your sleep," she told him. "I kept having to intensely tuck you in before the nurses made their rounds." Danny's eyes snapped open, and he looked afraid.

"Oh god, what am I going to do if Mom or Dad comes to check on me in the middle of the night?" he asked. Danielle shrugged.

"Chant in tongues?" she suggested. Danny scowled.

"I'm serious!"

"Oh, relax. I have a bigger chance of getting caught," she snorted at him, raising an eyebrow at him, even though she still didn't look at him. "I share a room with Jazz now, remember?"

Danny didn't have time to comment, as the driver's door opened. Both twins glanced up at the front as their dad got into the seat, and he buckled in.

"Ready to go home?" he asked, glancing in his rearview mirror at them. Dani smiled, giving a nod.

"Yes! I'm ready for my own bed," she confessed.

"I'm ready to not eat hospital food anymore," her brother spoke up. Jack laughed, and he put the car into drive.

"Your mom said she was making your favorites," their dad commented, and he began to pull out of the hospital's parking lot. Both twins began to cling to the seats. There were no ghosts or "Fenton Emergencies", so he was likely to only speed, but even then, it made them both nervous. "Jazz missed you both too, but she said that it was nice getting some sleep without Danielle waking her up with her snoring."

"I don't snore!" Danielle exclaimed. Jack chuckled, and Danny snorted in amusement, and Danielle rolled her eyes at them, pulling the blanket over her head.

The drive was mostly a blur, and both twins were relieved to see the giant FentonWorks sign outside of their home, as well as their friends, Sam and Tucker, sitting on the front steps, obviously waiting for them. They both perked up, and they got to their feet and rushed over to the RV. Sam immediately opened the back door, almost before Jack could fully park, giving them both a huge smile.

"We were so worried!" she exclaimed, and she moved to wrap an arm around the nearest twin, Danny, hugging him lightly. Danny leaned into her, giving a small wince. "Still hurts?"

"Not as bad as last week," he admitted.

"Do you need help out?" Tucker questioned.

"I think we got it," Danielle sighed heavily, and she moved to open her door, slowly getting out. Everything hurt, but it was supposed to get better. "It's just gonna take some time."

Tucker nodded, and Sam moved to let Danny slowly get out. He stretched a bit once on the ground, groaning as he gave a small shiver. Danielle still had the blanket wrapped around her. Her left leg was still invisible, but Jack didn't seem to notice.

"You kids head on inside and get to bed, I'm going to go get some things out of the shed," Jack told them, waving a hand.

Danny and Danielle let out a small chorus of thanks and love yous, which Jack returned before heading into the backyard excitedly. Their father tried to hide it, due to the twins' injuries, but he was excited that they got the portal going. Jazz had told him how, when their parents weren't both at the hospital coddling the twins, their dad was downstairs, constantly shifting everything around in their basement and shed to begin testing and work. Neither twin really had the energy to hear the details of it all.

Tucker opened the door for them, and the four teens crowded inside.

"We're home," Danny called out, and Danielle just gave a tired groan to show that she was there too.

Maddie peaked out from the kitchen before rushing to them both to give them pecks on the forehead.

"How you two feeling?" she asked, lovingly patting their cheeks.

"Like I died and came back," Danielle commented honestly, and Tucker held back a snicker. Danny shot her a sideways glare.

"Really tired," Danny replied. Maddie gave them sympathetic smiles, giving them each a kiss again before raising a confused eyebrow.

"Where's Jack?"

"He went to get some stuff from the shed," Sam piped up. Maddie rolled her eyes a bit.

"Why don't you two go upstairs to rest? I'll bring up lunch," she suggested.

"Sounds good," Danielle immediately agreed, and she headed up the stairs. Danny gave a weak smile before following, Tucker and Sam on their tails.

Instead of splitting to their separate rooms, Danielle followed Danny to his. Once everybody was inside, Tucker shut the door. Danny crawled into his bed, and Danielle shifted to lay down on it as well. Sam took the beanbag chair after slipping her backpack off, and Tucker sat down in the computer chair.

"Did the doctors say anything about...you know," Tucker immediately wanted to know.

"Thankfully, nobody seemed to suspect anything," Danielle replied, rolling onto her side and curling up. "They all acted like all we were in for was electrical burns."

"Yeah, and we had some close moment there," Danny sighed happily as he felt the comfort of his own bed. He was still sleepy, but forced himself to stay awake. "I turned intangible and floated a lot."

"I kept going invisible," Danielle spoke up. "Danny kept having to say that I left to go to the bathroom. It happened so much they tested me for a bladder infection."

"Yikes," Sam winced, crossing her arms and shifting to be more comfortable in her seat. "Have you guys tried...you know...changing again?"

Both twins shook their head no. Sam had explained to them on their first visit to them in the hospital, how they both looked when they first came out of the portal after the accidental activation. White hair, glowing, and just...different.

"Didn't want to risk it," Danielle explained.

"Yeah. I'm not sure if we can even...you know, do that," Danny added on, a bit quietly, shifting to sit up. "Like...if it was a one time thing, or if we do that, can we turn back to...well this?" He moved his hand through his hair. Sam nodded understandably.

"Let's not talk about this now," Dani pipped up her request. "How was signing up for classes? Mom and Jazz got ours for us, what did you guys get?"

"I brought mine with me!" Sam announced, shifting to get out of her bean bag chair to dig through her bag. Danny motioned to the desk.

"I have mine in my desk, Tuck," Danny spoke, and Tucker took Sam's before turning around to find Danny's in his desk drawer.

"One second," Danielle commented, and she shifted to get up, leaving her blanket behind. She opened the door, leaving it open for her mom as she passed her onto her own room.

"Hey kids," Maddie greeted, coming in through the open door. The trio left in the room greeted her cheerfully, and she put a tray of food she had brought up on Danny's desk. "I made you all a burger and some fries, I figured you were staying. Oh! Sam!" The girl was interrupted before she could even speak up. "I remembered that you're vegan now, so I made you some vegan fettuccine." Sam beamed happily. "I couldn't remember if you could eat fries or not."

"Depends on how they're fried, typically not," Sam replied.

"Well, if you can, you can eat them, if not, then I'm sure the rest of you will eat it," Maddie lightly waved her hand. She passed a burger and fries plate to Danny, and handed Sam her bowl of pasta. Danielle came back, her schedule in her hand, and accepted her plate before sitting on the edge of Danny's bed again. "Danielle, Danny, how are you two feeling?"

"Better, I'm glad to be home," Danielle sighed, taking a large bite of her burger. Danny nodded in agreement. Maddie smiled softly, and she walked over to give each of them a loving peck on their forehead.

"I'm glad, you gave your dad and I quite the scare," she told them. "Let me know if you need something okay? We'll be right downstairs. You can call me if needed, I'll have my phone attached at the hip."

"Thanks Mom/Thanks Mrs. Fenton," came the response from all four. Maddie left the tray, and she left the room, closing the door again for them.

"Dani, your schedule," Tucker requested. Danielle curled it into a ball and tossed it over. Tucker caught it, and he pushed the tray out of the way to lay all three schedules on the desk, comparing it to the schedule he had already put in his PDA.

"Your mom's really good at making vegan foods," Sam commented, wiping the corner of her mouth with a napkin. "My parents still struggle to find anything for me to eat."

"Yeah, Mom was a vegetarian for a long time, but said she stopped cause it was getting hard to find foods to eat in college that he could afford," Danny replied in between bites. Sam hummed, and she shifted to reach into her backpack again.

"Speaking of which!" she chirped, and she set her bowl aside and pulled out a piece of paper. She smoothed it out, and she held it up. "I'm petitioning Casper High to change their lunch menu!"

Tucker coughed, and he spun around to face Sam.

"What!?" he demanded to know. "You can't just change the lunch menu! Did you even see their schedule! They have pizza every Friday!" Sam scowled at him.

"There's no vegan option!" she argued.

"Pack your stupid vegan lunch!"

"What about if I forget my lunch? I don't wanna have to scavenge your lunches for salad without bacon and chicken mixed in it," Sam huffed. "Or what about other vegans? We have a right to a vegan-friendly option to our school lunches."

"Guys, guys," Danny interrupted them before Tucker could rebuttal. "Do we share any classes?"

"One sec," Tucker immediately switched focus, and he turned back around. A moment later, and he put all of their schedules on the bed. He had written his out, and highlighted the classes they all had together. The four huddled around the papers on the bed.

**Tucker Foley**

_1st period: Computer Science_

_2nd period: Spanish_

_3rd period: World History_

_4th period: Honors Biology_

_5th period: Gym_

_Lunch:_

_6th period: Honors English Literature_

_7th period: Honors Trig_

**Daniel Fenton**

_1st period: English Literature_

_2nd period: Spanish_

_3rd period: Algebra I_

_4th period: World History_

_5th period: Art I_

_Lunch:_

_6th period: Biology_

_7th period: Astronomy_

**Danielle Fenton**

_1st period: English Literature_

_2nd period: Psychology_

_3rd period: French_

_4th period: World History_

_5th period: Drama I_

_Lunch:_

_6th period: Biology_

_7th period: Honors Trig_

**Samantha Manson**

_1st period: English Literature_

_2nd period: Psychology_

_3rd period: French_

_4th period: Algebra I_

_5th period: Gym_

_Lunch:_

_6th period: World History_

_7th period: Honors Biology_

"Okay, so we all have lunch together," Danny said after some scanning. Sam hummed a tad unhappily at that, but pointed out classes.

"Juliet's also in our Psych and French," Sam told Danielle, who perked up at the idea of the group's other friend, an adorable ginger, sharing some classes with them.

"Yeah, and Eric's in our Spanish, and he's in your English too," Tucker told Danny. Danny nodded in approval.

"I can't believe we're going to start high school in less than two weeks," Danielle sighed, almost dreamily. "More electives, better school events, high school parties, and oohhh, Prom!"

"You can't go to Prom unless you're asked by a senior or at least a junior," Tucker pointed out. Danielle rolled her eyes at him.

"Yeah, but we get to eventually," Danny pointed out. Tucker gave a shrug, and he leaned back a bit, shifting to get his food and to continue eating. Danny began to shiver a bit. "God, ever since the accident, I've always been so cold."

"Maybe it's an aftereffect, like part of the whole...powers thing," Sam suggested. Danielle shook her head.

"I don't know, I mean, I've been more warm than hot. Like, random hot flashes," Danielle commented. She gave Danny the blanket she had been using, and he happily shifted to wrap it around himself. Sam looked confused. "It's like I'm hitting menopause," she joked, giving a half-chuckle.

"Well, your parents are downstairs," Tucker said, glancing at the door. "Jazz left earlier today with some of her friends. Maybe you could...I dunno...practice?"

"I think Mom and Dad have stuff set up so that like...we can detect ghosts and such," Danielle said quietly, and she looked up at the ceiling, almost expecting to see something that confirmed her suspicions.

"No, they never got it set up," Danny corrected her, and he ate a few more fries before setting the plate on his nightstand. "Let's do it. Let's practice." Danielle gave him a bewildered look, watching him slowly get out of bed. "Come on. I don't wanna mess up and accidentally float during class."

"Yeah...true," Danielle said, and she handed her (mostly empty) plate to Tucker, who accepted it and put it on the desk.

She scooted off the bed, standing up and sighing. She pulled her hair out of her ponytail, redoing it before standing up straight, stretching briefly before glancing at Danny. He cracked his knuckles, biting his lower lip nervously. They stared at each other for a moment.

"I have no clue what to do," Danny confessed, and Danielle just gave a brief nod of agreement, hanging her head for a moment.

"Maybe if you just like, think about it," Sam encouraged, and she moved from the beanbag chair onto the bed, sitting criss-cross.

"Think about it," Danielle echoed, sighing heavily and closing her eyes. "Think about it."

"Just...clear the mind and think about it," Danny repeated, and he concentrated.

The room fell silent. The Fenton adults could be heard faintly in the distance as they tinkered with the lab. Tucker and Sam stared at the twins intensely, waiting for something to happen.

A bright light filled the room, and despite her eyes being closed, Danielle could still see it. Her eyes snapped open, and she glanced down. The light passed over her, and she glanced at Danny, and she jumped a bit, Danny mirroring the action.

"Your hair...your eyes...your skin," they told each other, in unison. The other's hair was snow white, their eyes glowing a bright green. Their skin had grown tan, and both wore a reverse version of the jumpsuits they had originally worn into the portal. Danny's suit a black with white accessories, Danielle having the inverse.

Tucker's jaw was dropped, and, without even looking, Sam reached into her bag and pulled out her cosmetic mirror, handing it over.

Danielle snatched it up, and she looked at her new features. She gave a soft sigh of awe, and she adjusted it so that Danny can see himself as well. He gave a long, conflicted exhale.

"First thing I wanna learn how to do," Danielle finally spoke up, allowing Danny to take the mirror, "is find out how to change out of this stupid jumpsuit."

Danny felt his eyes water up as he looked at himself. He looked so much more masculine. He put a hand up to his jaw, touching it carefully, almost in awe of himself.

“Your suit's skintight, right? Spandex?” Tucker spoke up.

“Yeah, both are,” Danielle replied, pulling on the material to show off the skin-tightness of it before it snapped back. She glanced at Danny, who seemed almost in tears as he pulled at his suit. “Danny?”

“Guys, I'm not wearing a binder,” he replied. They all stared at him in excited shock. Danny began to fumble for the suit's zipper, pulling it down a bit and looking. _“Guys!”_

“Your ghost's...” Sam breathed, breaking into a grin. “This is so amazing.” It immediately dropped when Danny began to rapidly pull the zipper down more. “Whoa there! I do not wanna see the goods.”

Danny flushed a dark green, immediately zipping the suit back up to the neck.

“Sorry,” he apologized, but he was grinning like crazy. “You know...I think this is going to be great.”

Danielle grinned.

“It'll be amazing. We'll be just like superheros.”

"Phantom twins?"

"Phantom twins."


	2. Mystery Meat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Season One, Episode One: Mystery Meat
> 
> Post the first month of high school. Danny and Danielle are both struggling to keep their powers under control. Tucker and Sam argue over changing the menu, much to the anger of a lunch lady ghost.

Jack gave a large, goofy grin as he stood in front of his audience, which consisted of Danny, Danielle, Tucker and Sam. They all sat in a row, staring up at him.

"So, kids!" he began, clapping his hands together. "With the Fenton Ghost Portal up and running, it's time we all discussed ghost safety! Especially if you're all gunning to be ghost hunters!"

"Uh, actually Dad?" Danny spoke up, a bit hesitantly. "I wanna be an astronaut."

"I'm thinking more along the lines of an engineer," Danielle commented uncertainly.

"Model, but, ya know, when my looks start to go I think I'd like to do video game design," Tucker spoke with a grin.

"Veterinarian," Sam said firmly and confident in her decision.

"Well, even if you don't change your mind, the portal's likely going to change a lot of things," Jack said, and he gestured to said portal. "Normally, you see, ghosts enter and exit our world through natural portals, that pop up all throughout the world. But with the ghost portal, there will be a consistent portal that they can enter and leave from, meaning that we'll have a large spike in ghost activity."

The man turned his back to them to look at his table of prepared equipment. Danny hiccuped, and Danielle sneezed. Both cupped their mouth and noses as a blue mist escaped Danny's lips, and twin red mists left Danielle's nostrils. They glanced at each other, and Tucker and Sam glanced over in concern.

"And as you probably figure, ghosts can be very, very dangerous, and you must always be cautious," Jack spoke, ignorant of the four's pressing concerns. "I've seen many a ghosts in my day, and so has your mother. Now I don't want you kids fighting ghosts. Not now anyway, when you're older, of course. But for now, we'll go over the basics."

The portal opened. Two ectopuses floated out. They both stared intensely at the four, giving soft, almost silent groans before snatching out to grab Tucker and Sam. Before they could scream, they covered their lips to prevent any sounds escaping. Danielle and Danny glanced at each other, and they gave a nod. A flash of bright light later, they sprung into action.

"Knowledge is power, but for today, I'll spare you four the details. For you kids, it all starts with your equipment," Jack continued, and his eyes scanned the table until he found what he was looking for. He grinned, snatching it up and holding it proudly. He turned to face the kids again, and he saw Tucker and Sam back in their seats, looking frazzled and shaking. Jack seemed to not even notice that half of his audience was missing. "Sam, Tucker, this is the Fenton Thermos."

He handed it to Sam, who accepted it and gave it a weird look. She turned it over in her hands. So far, it looked like just one of those "normal objects with the word Fenton on it" to her.

"It's supposed to trap ghosts," Jack continued, and he turned once more to face his table of equipment. "But as it hasn't been fully finished yet, for now, it's just a thermos. A thermos with the word 'Fenton' on it. But one day, it'll work. And until that day, I'm going to carry that thing with me and fiddle with it until it's revolutionary ghost hunting technology!"

He seemed ignorant of the fighting in the background between the twins and ectopuses. It didn't take long for Danny to throw the ghosts back into the zone. Danielle slammed the button next to the portal, shutting it. Tucker and Sam frantically pointed to their dad. Another flash of light later, and the two rushed back to their seats just in time.

"Alright, so let's move onto offensive. Never aggravate a ghost, if you can, just run away. But if you have to, you can use one of these," Jack commented, and he turned around with a small ecto-gun. "You can't carry these to school, but I'll be sending you two home with one." He gestured to Sam and Tucker. He smiled at the four. Half looked frazzled, and the other two were gasping for breath. "Look at you kids, you're all so excited to learn!" They all forced a weak grin.

He reached for a box of ecto-guns, and he held the box out for them. They all peaked in.

"Everybody take one, we're all going to learn how to handle, use and care for an ecto-gun."

Sam was the first to reach in, and she pulled out an ecto-gun. Danny and Tucker followed suit, and Danielle did too. Jack put the box down, and he grabbed another one, pulling up a chair to sit in front of them. He held out his own ecto-gun, and he dived into a small lecture.

* * *

Insert Theme Song

* * *

Danny got his bowl of cereal and sat down in between Jazz and Danielle. Jazz was already done with breakfast, her empty plate in front of her, but was nose-deep in one of her psychology textbooks, occasionally glancing up to make a bit of a face at the invention his mom was working on. Danielle was on her phone, scrolling through a social media app, occasionally taking a bite from her own bowl. Danny glanced in front of him to see his mom with her cup of coffee and her own breakfast, a half-empty plate of waffles. She was mostly focusing on the back of an electronic device, her hood and goggles on and working intently.

"Mornin'!" Jack's voice boomed as he came into the kitchen. Everybody returned the greeting. He moved to get a cup of coffee, the Fenton Thermos tucked under his arm and several tools sticking out of one of his pockets.

Danny moved to eat a spoonful of cereal, only to...miss? He glanced down, his spoon still in the bowl. What the? His hand moved a bit, and he began to freak out. His hand was see-through, and he immediately shoved it under the table. He nudged Danielle with his foot. She turned her attention briefly to him. He moved his arm a bit, and she grew concerned, scooting a bit closer in order to lean against him, making it look less weird. He used his left hand to (shakily) continue his breakfast.

Maddie straightened her posture, smiling and putting down her tools.

"Alright! It's almost done!" she announced cheerfully.

"What'd you say?" Jack was immediately alert. He stopped pouring his coffee, forgetting his cup and zooming to Maddie. He put the Fenton Thermos on the table, and he eagerly took the new invention from her fingers. "It's done?"

He flipped the switch to fire it up. A few moments later, the small machine came to life, and Jack began pressing some of the buttons to set it up.

"The Fenton Finder is done!" he called out loudly. Jazz looked at him over her book, and Danielle put her phone on the table. Danny paused eating. "This baby uses satellites to lead you right to the ghosts!"

"It uses what to track what?" Danny's voice was a bit shaky. His eyes flickered to his hand. It was still intangible. He wiggled his fingers desperately.

Jack was busy pressing more buttons. Maddie rolled her eyes, but smiled. She took her hood off, and she pulled her plate closer to her in order to continue eating. Jazz sighed before closing her book, setting it on the table.

"Mom, Dad, don't you think that your insane obsession with ghosts psychologically harms us?" Jazz questioned. She dog-eared her book, setting it aside for now. "I mean, you guys literally built a portal to the ghost's world in our basement."

"Now, sweetie," Maddie replied gently. "I know what we do doesn't always make sense, but you're only-"

"Sixteen," Jazz interrupted, crossing her arms. "But only biologically! Psychologically, I'm an adult, and I think that your guys' obsession is causing psychological side effects on us!"

"Like what?" Danielle spoke up, giving Jazz a weird look. Jazz huffed at her.

"Like, you both were shocked by the portal, you can't say that you don't have some mild PTSD from that!" Jazz exclaimed, gesturing a bit with her hands desperately. "I mean, aren't you a little afraid? Have some phobias now?"

Jack and Maddie looked from Jazz to the twins. They became more...serious.

"Are you two alright?" Jack questioned aloud, putting the invention aside.

"Hm? What? I mean, yeah," Danielle stuttered a bit. "I mean...it was really painful, and I think I'll probably have scarring, but I don't really feel...like...afraid or like I have some PTSD or anything."

"Yeah, I'm a bit sore, but I don't think I'm really, you know, effected or anything," Danny said slowly. "Like, I'm not having nightmares or anything. I'm not finding myself like...having flashbacks or anything."

Jazz seemed a bit relieved with this, and she nodded. She got up, grabbing her book and putting her plate in the sink.

"Come on, I'll drive you guys to school," she offered, reaching down to get her backpack. Danny and Danielle followed her lead, putting their dishes away before grabbing their backpacks. The Fenton kids all said their goodbyes before going off to school.

* * *

"Do you think we should tell them?" Danielle wondered. She spun the dial on her locker, opening it and putting her stuff away. Danny leaned against the lockers next to her.

"Why? Parents don't listen," Sam grumbled. Her own locker was only a few away, and she opened hers, exchanging textbooks. "Even worse, they don't freaking understand!" She gripped her locker tightly before slamming it closed, making Danielle jump. "Why can't they accepted me for who I am!?"

Danny raised an eyebrow at her.

"Sam, we're talking about our powers. Our problems," he reminded her. Sam flushed darkly, and she nodded.

"Yeah, um...right," she stammered a bit. "Me...too…"

“I mean, they'd take it fine, right? Our parents would love us no matter what. They were so chill and fine when you came out,” Danielle frowned. Danny rubbed the back of his neck.

“Dani, I think being half-ghost is a lot different than being trans, especially when our parents are ghost hunters.”

 

Tucker walked up to them a moment later, breathing heavily.

"God...I hate...gym," he complained, and he dug through his pockets to pull out his lunch card. "I hate showering too. Dash is awful, you guys are so lucky you don't have to take it."

"We have to take it next year," Danielle pointed out to him, closing her locker, her lunch in hand. "Mom just talked to the teachers and they agreed to let us wait another year cause of the injuries."

"Do they still hurt?" Sam wondered, coming a bit closer towards the group.

"My legs still ache, and they burn occasionally, but they don't constantly hurt anymore," Danielle replied.

"Yeah, legs are killing me, but everything else is fine," Danny agreed, giving a nod. They all began to walk together towards the cafeteria. "But maybe we should tell them. I mean, it's been almost two months since the accident, and I still have barely any control."

"Really?" Danielle questioned, raising an eyebrow. Danny glanced at her. "I'm controlling them just fine."

Danny stopped in his tracks. "What!?"

"Well, yeah," she commented, giving a shrug, and the other three stopped as well. "I've been...you know, practicing."

"So have I!" Danny exclaimed. "I'm still moving through everything and flickering invisible, and floating! I mean, if people start noticing, I'll be going from geek to fucking freak around here!"

"You mean kind of like what you're doing now?" Tucker pipped up.

Danny glanced down at himself, and he gave a startled yelp. He was sinking slowly through the floor, his bottom half intangible. Sam and Danielle each grabbed an arm and pulled him up. Danny's legs soon became physical again, and they set him down.

"God damn it," Danny grumbled to himself, slouching a bit, and he continued to walk forward. As he spoke, he flickered between being invisible and visible. "If my dad could make something that accidentally made me this weird freak with ghost powers, why can't he make something that turns me back to normal."

Danielle patted his shoulder, shifting to wrap an arm around him and give him a sidehug.

"Danny, our powers make us unique. Unique's great, it makes us stand out. It's gonna be great," she tried to assure him, but Danny didn't seem convinced. However, he slipped his arm around her and hugged her back.

"Yeah, unique's the best. That's why I became vegan," Sam chirped, giving a skip to catch up with them.

"I thought you were vegetarian," Tucker asked aloud, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Vegan's when you don't eat anything that comes from an animal. Vegetarians just don't eat meat," Danielle explained, and Sam nodded. Tucker made a face.

"Oh, who cares about that stuff?" he huffed, waving his hand. "I couldn't live without food. I hate vegetables. Only vegetables I wanna see is the ones on my pizza." He gave an excited grin. "Speaking of which, it's pizza Friday!"

"Nope!" Sam corrected him, giving a sly smile. "I wore the school board down."

Tucker glanced at Sam, and he suddenly noticed the lack of a spider lunchbox.

"Wait," he said, and he put his hand in front of her to prevent her from continuing to walk. _"What did you do!?"_

Sam just smirked, lightly pushing his hand away and opened the cafeteria door, following the twins inside. Once past the door, Tucker's face fell at the large banner: _VEGAN FRIDAY_

* * *

"Jack, hand me that please?" Maddie requested, gesturing to the tool that he was using on another invention. A few moments passed. "Jack?"

She glanced up, and she noticed that her husband wasn't focusing heavily on his task as hand, too focused to hear her as normal, like she expected. Instead, he was staring at the green swirls of the open portal.

"Sweetie?" she questioned, and she touched his shoulder. Jack jumped.

"Hm? Oh, yes, uh, here," he scrambled before handing her the tool and coughing a bit.

"Jack, is something wrong?"

Maddie put aside the tool for now, and she pulled her hood down. Jack glanced at her, and he pulled his hood and goggles off as well, giving a sigh. He stared at the portal for a bit longer before he set the Fenton Thermos down.

"Maybe we should disable the portal," he suggested, a bit quietly. Maddie was taken aback.

"Jack Fenton, you spent most of your life designing and building this portal," she lightly scolded, setting aside her own invention as well.

"I know, I know," Jack replied quickly, fiddling with a new tool in his hands. "But I was just thinking about what Jazz said earlier. The nurses had told me that there might be scarring. They're already going to carry a permanent reminder of portal with them. What if they get made fun of for it, or if it causes some other problems later on? What if having the portal up and running makes them feel no longer safe to come down to the basement or be around the house. Just...I don't know."

Maddie shifted to stand up, wiping some of the grease that was on her hands. She cupped Jack's cheek, giving him a loving kiss before patting his back, leaning in to hug him.

"They might, they might not. Only time will tell, and we'll both be there for them no matter what," she told him, pecking him once more before handing him the thermos. "They're good kids, I'm sure they'll be alright. We just need to let them know that we love them and that we're there for them no matter what. And disabling the portal won't change what's already happened."

Jack gave a small smile, nodding and accepted the invention, turning it over.

"Yeah, maybe," he replied. He sighed, moving to stand up. "I'm hungry. Mind if we take a lunch break a bit early today?"

"Sounds perfect. I made cookies yesterday, there should be some still left," Maddie pointed out. Jack visibly perked up, and they went upstairs to eat.

Shortly after they left, a figure emerged from a portal, an elderly female. She was dressed in a pink, lunch lady outfit, complete with apron, gloves and hairnet. Her skin was a pale green, eyes red and hair snow-white and short.

"Oooh! Somebody changed the menu!" she spoke cheerfully, floating up and through the ceiling.

* * *

Tucker sat down hesitantly, looking at the 'food' on his tray. He looked around to see everybody else...actually eating it. Danny and Eric were hesitantly eating it, but Juliet, Danielle and Sam were happily munching down.

"What the hell is this?" Tucker demanded to know, looking in front of him at Sam. She shrugged.

"It's a vegan sandwich wrap, with some fruit, a salad and Oreos," she replied, pointing everything out. Tucker held up the small package of Oreos.

"Oreos is vegan!?" he wondered, shaking the package.

"Yeah, surprisingly, they are. The cream is made with soy," Danielle spoke up. Tucker stared at her in disgust.

"You're actually eating this," he huffed.

"Well, yeah," Juliet shrugged, and the ginger ate another bite of the salad. "I think Sam's kinda right. I mean, I don't really want to become vegan, but we do need more vegan options, and I really should eat less meat anyway. It's actually pretty good, just try it."

"Yeah, I helped pick out some of the sides, but I didn't think this vegan wrap would taste good," Danielle admitted.

"I wouldn't eat it every day," Danny admitted. "It's okay, but I need some meat in there."

"Same, I need more meat," Eric briefly complained. Sam shrugged her shoulders.

"Fair enough," she agreed. "Thanks for signing anyway."

"Wait, you all signed her petition too? And you freaking helped her with the meal!?" Tucker questioned, scanning all of them. They all nodded. "You're all dead to me."

"Love you too, Tuck," Juliet teased, finishing off the salad. She put the Oreos in her backpack, putting it on her shoulder and picking up her tray. "I'll eat the wrap on my way to see Lancer, I wanna talk to him about the test next week. See you guys later!"

She gave a small wave before leaving, and the others waved.

"I gotta skip too, need to go talk to the coach about soccer," Eric added, shoveling the rest of the wrap in his mouth. He shoved the pack of Oreos in his pocket, giving a wave before heading off as well.

Danny watched Eric watch off, and his eye caught a worker behind the counter at the lunch line. She looked green, and he hiccuped, and Danielle covered her mouth to prevent a sneeze coming. The glanced at each other.

"Um, I think we have a problem," Danny spoke up.

" _FENTON!"_

Danny jerked forward when something hit him in the back of the head. He reached to see what it was, and it was gooey, part of a sandwich wrap. Ew.

"Make that two problems," he corrected himself, glancing behind him as a blond in a football jersey stormed up to him. Crap. Dash. And he was holding a lunch tray.

"Fenton! I ordered two sandwiches! And you know what they gave me?" Dash demanded to know. Danny didn't dare answer, and the four jumped when Dash slammed his tray onto their table. He had two sandwich wraps that were open, obviously from where he had searched for some chicken or other sandwich meats. He also had a salad, extra fruit and two packets of Oreos. "Four pieces of bread with a bunch of stupid vegetarian crap in between it! There's no meat!"

Dash grabbed Danny's shirt, picking him up and bringing him closer. Danny began to sweat nervously. Many people had turned their attention to the commotion, and he prayed that his powers wouldn't act up now.

"How am I supposed to play football with no protein!?" Dash demanded to know.

"Actually, it's vegan," Sam corrected him, crossing her arms. "And there's plenty of vegetables that have pro-"

"Whatever!" Dash cut her off, and he threw Danny at the table. Danny winced, feeling his ribs hit the edge. His portal injuries began to ache, and he groaned.

Another hiccup, and Danny glanced nervously at the lunch counter, then his friends. Sam and Danielle glanced at each other, and Tucker grabbed his sandwich wrap. He stood up, and he was visibly a bit shaky.

"VEGAN FIGHT!" he yelled, and he threw the sandwich wrap at Dash, hitting him in the face. Sam's face immediately fell.

Dash gave an enraged yell, and he backed up a bit, wiping the food off his face. Danny immediately ducked under the table, crawling away.

"No! Stop! You're gonna ruin-!" Sam had begun. Tucker grabbed her arm and pulled her down. He glared at her, and he motioned for her to sneak away.

Danny craned his head to check behind him, to assure that the others were following. He caught sight of Dash. The blond finished wiping his eyes, and he glared at them.

"You're gonna pay for this, Fenton!" he yelled, and he growled angrily when a pack of Oreos hit him in the ear.

"Lovely, I'm still his favorite," Danny muttered, mostly to himself, and he continued to crawl.

Once out of range, they all stood up and were able to slip away towards the door that lead to the kitchen. Danielle glanced inside before coaxing everybody to follow in after her. It was oddly empty of the normal staff, and the ghostly figure that the twins had sensed earlier came into view. She seemed...oddly puzzled and confused.

"This shouldn't be too bad. She kinda looks like my grandma," Tucker whispered.

"Shouldn't she be haunting a bingo hall?" Danny wondered, and Tucker shrugged. Danielle glanced at Danny.

"So...should we like...talk to her or…?" she asked slowly, and Danny studied the ghost.

"Your dad said to not aggravate ghosts," Tucker pointed out.

"Yeah, but we don't have the thermos, and Mr. Fenton's not even sure if it works," Sam mused, and she shrugged. "Maybe we should just...talk to her. She looks harmless."

Everybody nodded at each other, and Danny stepped forward. He stood in front of the others, and he gave an awkward cough. The ghost turned to face them, still looking confused, although she brightened up a bit at seeing them.

"Well hello, children," she greeted softly, and she floated a bit closer to them. Tucker grabbed Danielle's arm, a bit worriedly, and she patted his hand. "Can you help me?"

"Of course," Danny spoke up, voice a bit chokey. He coughed again, and he continued, "What's wrong?"

"Well, today's lunch is pizza. It's Pizza Friday," she explained, and she gave a distressed hum. Danny felt a bit bad for her. "Did somebody change the menu?"

"Yeah," Tucker shrugged. He pointed to Sam with his free hand. "She did."

The ghost blinked.

"YOU CHANGED THE MENU!?"

The four shrieked, moving back a bit as the ghost's hair turned into flames and eyes flashing a brighter red. Tucker's grip on Danielle tightened.

"THE MENU HAS BEEN THE SAME FOR OVER FIFTY YEARS!" she roared. Green flames began to surround her, and the four backed up further.

"Harmless old lady my ass!" Danielle hissed into Danny's ear, and he made a face at her.

"Come on, let's just change," he hissed back. Danielle stuck her tongue out. "I'm going ghost!" He ignored Danielle's amused snicker at him.

Twin flashes of bright light appeared in the form of a ring at their waists. It split into two rings, traveling in opposite directions to reveal two ghost forms. While both had white hair and green eyes, tanned skin, only Danny had on the lab jumpsuit. Danielle had on something new, something Danny hadn't seen before, but now wasn't the time to question it.

Both hopped up, and flew towards the ghostly lunch lady. Danielle wobbled a bit, keeping a bit steady, and Danny pointed a finger at her.

"I command you to...go away!" he spoke loudly, his voice shaking near the end. Danielle almost facepalmed.

The lunch lady just glared at them, and she lifted her hands. Danielle winced, unsure of what the other was going to do. The hands glowed, and Danny noticed the dishes around them beginning to glow too.

"Dani! Look out!" he called out.

Danielle spun around, and she turned intangible just in time for the dishes to harmlessly pass through her. She grinned, tangibility returning. Danny gave a small glare of jealousy. It wasn't fair, she had so much control already.

Out of the corner of his eye, Danny saw more glowing dishes headed for Sam, and he dashed at them. He grabbed the first dish, shifting to catch all of them in a neat stack. Danielle rushed for the dishes coming at Tucker. She flew at him, wrapping her arms around him and pushing him out of the way. Tucker smiled at her, and she squeezed him a bit in a hug before letting go. Danny was putting the dishes onto the counter.

"Well, you know, if the superhero thing doesn't work out, you'd make a great busboy," Danielle teased him, and Danny glared.

"I control lunch!" the lunch lady roared. The four snapped their attentions to her. She was firing up the ovens: literally. They began to emit green flames, shifting to appear like monsters as they roared to life. "Lunch is sacred! Lunch has rules!" Almost as if nothing had happened, she calmed down completely, her eyes returning to normal and hair's flame dying down into regular whisps. She forced a plate, a slice of cake, to float up to her. "Would anybody like a piece of cake?" she questioned sweetly.

Danny and Danielle glanced at each other. Just...what? Danny glanced at Sam and Tucker, who shrugged.

"Um...y-y-es please?" Tucker spoke up anxiously. What was even the right answer to that question?

"TOO BAD!" came the roar, the lunch lady turning, basically, completely psychotic again. "Children who change my menu do not get dessert!"

She turned her back to them, and she phased through the wall. The ovens all began to move, the doors opening and shutting and spitting out green flames. They shuffled a bit before zooming towards them.

"Danny!" Danielle snapped, and he turned his attention to her. She grabbed Sam, and she turned intangible. Sam glanced down at herself, watching herself slowly turn intangible. Danny grabbed Tucker, doing the same, and he followed her through the wall behind them.

Danielle fell backwards, dropping Sam in the process. Danny shifted to begin rolling with Tucker until they slammed into the lockers.

"Hey! That worked!" Danielle squealed, rolling over to stand up again. Tucker got up, leaning against the lockers, Danny sitting up and cracking his back.

"This. This is the crap I get for helping people expand their minds!" Sam scowled, giving a small grumble as she sat up. Tucker held a hand out to help her up, and she accepted it.

Tucker and Sam fumbled a bit as the hallway began to shake. Danny shot to his feet, looking around, on high alert. The lights powered down. Sam shrieked as a locker next to her practically exploded, textbooks and papers flying out. Danny ducked as another one just above his head did the same.

"What the-?" Tucker exclaimed. Piles of...meat, began to fly past them. He reached out and grabbed a porkchop. It vibrated in his hands before zooming away, joining the others to the end of the hallway.

The lunch lady was glaring at them, all the meat collecting around her. The meat began to stick to her, piling on top of each other. It began to layer, slowly piling until she became a monster of meat.

"Prepare to learn why meat is the most powerful of the five food groups!" she roared, pointing towards Sam.

"Forget it!" Danny yelled, sliding in front of Sam. "The only thing that has an expiration date here is YOU!" A flash of light and rings later, Danny turned back into his human form. Danielle raised an eyebrow at him, and Danny flushed. "Um...I...I didn't mean to do that."

The lunch lady gave a loud growl, and she slapped him out of the way towards Danielle and Tucker. Danielle turned intangible, the hand passing through her as Danny went flying into Tucker. They smacked into each other, sliding down the hallway. The lunch lady grabbed Sam, gripping her tightly, and she began to fly off.

"Hey! Come back!" Danielle yelled, jumping up and flying after her.

Tucker groaned, rolling off Danny and onto his stomach. He shook Danny, forcing the other to scramble to his knees.

"Dude! Come on, change back, we gotta go!" he exclaimed. Danny moved to get to his feet and go forward, only to be grabbed by the back of his collar. Tucker's collar was also grabbed, helping him get to his feet.

"You two aren't going anywhere," a familiar voice scolded them. Danny shifted to look at Mr. Lancer, giving them both a glare, with Dash's smug face behind him.

"Told ya, you'd pay, Fenton!" he sneered.

* * *

Danielle quickly lost track, and she grumbled in frustration. She zoomed around the school, intangibly going through walls and looking, but to no avail.

"God, damn it," she growled. She stood on the ground, leaning an arm against some lockers as she rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "How did I lose a giant meat monster!"

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, and Dani jumped. She grumbled. Ugh, biology. She quickly turned invisible, the hallways filling with students. Stepping backwards, she phased through the wall and continued to look.

* * *

Danny leaned forward in his seat, his leg jerking anxiously. Tucker was slumped in his seat, his mind going a million miles a moment. Both were worried, and they were barely paying attention to their teacher/vice principal as he was looking through some cabinets.

Mr. Lancer grabbed two files from the cabinet, and he hummed, opening the first one.

"Tucker Foley," he spoke, and he began to pace in front of his desk. "Chronic tardiness, talking in class, repeated loitering by the girls' locker room." Tucker let a sly grin slip, and Lancer opened the other file. "Daniel Fenton. Thirty-four dropped beakers since the beginning of school, sleeping in class." He closed both of them, letting them drop on his desk. "But no severe mischief before today."

Mr. Lancer crossed his arms, watching both of them closely. He glanced at Dash, who stood in the corner of the room, practically beaming from watching the other two being in trouble. Mr. Lancer leaned against his desk.

"So. Gentlemen. Would you like to tell me why the two of you decided to destroy the school's cafeteria!?" Mr. Lancer slowly began raising his voice louder and louder. Danny and Tucker winced.

"Dash started it," Danny began. "He threw-"

"Four touchdown passes in the last game and thereby exempt from scorn," Lancer interrupted him. Dash gave them a smug look. "You two, however, are not." The bell rang, and Lancer sighed, irritably. "I need to get my class started. I'll map out your punishment when I get back."

Lancer grabbed a stack of papers on his desk, and he moved to the door, Dash following. Lancer opened the door, but paused to glare at the two.

"I'll be back in five minutes. Mr. Baxter, watch the door."

Dash shot them another smirk, closing the door as he walked outside with him. Danny immediately shot to his feet the second the door closed.

"Okay, we gotta find Sam," Danny spoke up.

"Do you think Danielle's found her?" Tucker wondered, shifting to stand up as well.

"I dunno. I don't think so, she'd text me if she did, and I don't have any new messages," Danny said, taking out his phone to confirm that he had no new messages.

"You gotta change. We need to go get her then," Tucker nodded. He shifted a bit, crossing his arms. Danny nodded, and he wandered a bit closer to the security cameras behind Lancer's desk. "I mean. I feel like it's my fault she got kidnapped." Danny snorted in amusement.

"Maybe because you told the ghost she changed the menu?" he rolled his eyes, and he checked the cameras more closely. "Look, there's Danielle."

He tapped on a camera. The ghost girl was floating around in the basement area, following a dark trail. She zoomed through the camera screens as she changed from room to room.

"She's following a meat trail," Tucker mused. "It must still be in the building."

"Come on, let's meet up with her. Looks like they're headed towards the cafeteria's giant basement freezer-thing," Danny replied. He stepped back a bit. "Going ghost!"

The rings passed over him, and Danny held his hand out. Tucker accepted it, and he turned them both intangible, flying them down.

A moment later, the door opened. Mr. Lancer was carrying a broom, Dash hot on his toes.

"Gentlemen, your punishment will be," he began, only to stop. The room was empty, and he shook a bit in anger. " _Worse_ than you can imagine."

* * *

Danielle followed the trail that she had picked up on, and she came to a stop when she noticed something in front of her. She paused, before crossing her arms.

"Where have you two been!?" she demanded to know, floating quickly towards them.

"Lancer," they said in unison, and that's all that Danielle needed to know.

"We need to go that way," Danielle said, pointing in front of them. "I lost track of them. For an old lady, she's one speedy bitch."

Danny rolled his eyes. He and Danielle both wrapped an arm around Tucker's waist, picking him up and flying after the trail. It wasn't long before they heard talking. The twins paused, setting Tucker down and standing on the ground. Danielle tip-toed forward to peek around a stack of boxes.

The lunch lady was floating, without the meat surrounding her. Instead, piles of meat were just...everywhere. Sam was trapped, neck deep in one of those piles. She was wiggling, trying to escape, but to no avail.

"My dear child," the lunch lady said softly, speaking sweetly and kindly. She looked calm, her hair and eyes normal. "Meat is good for kids." Sam continued to wiggle. "It helps them grow, and it makes them smile." She picked up a piece of chicken to offer to Sam. "Why won't you eat it?"

Sam shot a glare at her.

"We don't need meat! If people stopped eating meat, we'd all be healthier, be able to effectively end world hunger and is cheaper in the long run!" Sam snapped. The lunch lady blinked at her, before she shot a glare at her, her hair flaming up once more.

"SILENCE!" she shrieked. The meat lying around the storage flew to her, turning her back into a meaty monster. "You need discipline! Manners! Respect! You know where that comes from? _MEAT!_ " Sam winced.

Danielle stepped back towards Tucker and Danny.

"Okay, we need a game plan," she began. She pointed at Danny. "You and I will handle the ghost. Tuck." She pointed to him. Tucker nodded at her. "You find a way to get Sam out of the pile of meat."

"Way ahead of you!" Tucker grinned, and he pulled out a fork and knife from his pocket. Danielle scrunched her face up at him.

"Do you...do you just carry that around with you?" she questioned. Tucker glanced at them, and he shrugged.

"Well...yeah."

"That's...that's gross," she told him.

"Yeah, I think I gotta go with Dani on this one," Danny shrugged. "I mean, some of that meat's been dragged around on the ground and is uncooked. You've seen the janitor clean, he always looks kinda out of it."

Tucker shrugged.

"Meat's meat, and I didn't eat lunch," he reminded them. Danielle winced, shaking her head.

"Whatever, do what you need to do, just get Sam out," she said. "Okay. Everyone. Go!"

Tucker went past her, sneaking behind boxes to get closer to Sam. Danny and Danielle jumped up, and they began to fly at the lunch lady.

The lunch lady glanced over her shoulder just in time to see the twins slam into her. She went flying into some of the boxes, knocking them over. Danny immediately flew at her, foot first. He came to a dead stop as his foot was caught, and he flopped a bit, falling to be hanging upside down.

"Don't you see? This is why you need meat!" she roared, and she threw him into Danielle. She gave an 'oof!' as she flew back with him. "You're skin and bones!"

Tucker was cutting into the meat and taking more bites, to Sam's disgust. He moved to take another bite, only for it to be gone. The meat trapping Sam and surrounding her left, and she beamed as she was freed.

The meat went towards the lunch lady, surrounding her and increasing her size. She glanced at Sam and Tucker, giving a low growl.

"Run?"

"Run."

They both began to take off. Sam skidded to a stop, Tucker nearly tripping over his own feet attempting to stop as well when a pile of meat prevented them from going any further. Sam grabbed Tucker's arm, forcing him to follow her into a separate direction.

Danielle and Danny slowly got up, groaning a bit. They stopped, watching Sam and Tucker running. Danny took off first, Danielle following suit. Danny grabbed Sam, Danielle Tucker, and they phased through the wall.

They appeared in the empty hallways. Danny set Sam down before flopping against some lockers. A flash of bright light later, and he turned human. Danielle practically dropped Tucker, although he landed on his feet, before falling on her behind, back against the lockers. Another bright light, and she turned human as well.

Sam glanced down at her shoulder, flicking a bit of chicken off. She watched the twins, concerned.

"You guys must be exhausted," she told them softly. "You guys are going to be okay?"

"I think it's just mostly the burns still hurting for me, and I kind of...strained myself," Danielle admitted, lightly rubbing her shoulder. The worst of her burns were on her arms, chest and back. The bell rang, and she frowned. "Lunch just now ended?"

"No, sixth period just ended," Tucker corrected her, glancing at his watch. Danielle sighed heavily, pulling her knees to her chest as she remembered. Lunch had ended long ago. She completely forgot.

"God, I missed biology," she groaned. "I'm already bombing it. Mom's gonna kill me when she knows I skipped."

"Yeah, I missed bio too. Mom's gonna be pissed," Danny sighed, putting his forehead against the lockers as more students crowded into the hallways.

"My dad's gonna be pissed," Tucker sighed. "I gotta find out now from Juliet what I missed." Sam and Danielle, despite their frustrations and exhaustion, smiled.

"I'm sure she won't mind," Danielle teased. Tucker stared at her with a blank expression.

"What do you mean?" he questioned. Danny snorted.

"Dude, she likes you," he told him. Tucker's eyes grew wide.

"Really?" he exclaimed. "Why didn't anybody tell me!?" His friends laughed.

"Come on, let's get to trig before the bell rings, and we're late again," Danielle sighed. She held her hands out to Tucker and gave a small whine. He rolled his eyes and took her hands, helping her to her feet.

"Have fun in Astronomy," Tucker told Danny. "And Biology." Sam shrugged.

"Our classes are basically the same, Tucker and I will help you guys catch up after school," Sam told him, and she went in another direction. Danny waved before dragging himself to his last class.

* * *

Jack was in the living room, several books out on the coffee table. He had his reading glasses on, a notebook in hand and tons of sticky notes in the books. The Fenton Thermos was on the table, cap off and being used as a tool and pencil holder at the moment. He glanced up, seeing his younger children walk in with their friends.

"Hey kiddos, how was school?" he called out. Danny and Danielle stiffened a bit as they dropped their backpacks on the floor next to the stairs.

"Fine," they both lied. Jack seemed satisfied with this, and he gave a nod.

"Whatcha up to, Mr. Fenton?" Sam questioned, looking at all the books. Jack straightened his posture a bit, taking off his glasses to rub his face.

"Since we got the portal running, Mrs. Fenton and I were contracted and given a grant to start actually going into the Ghost Zone," he explained. As they got closer, Danielle could see that it was many of the research books their parents kept downstairs. "You know, to start mapping it out and doing some tests there."

"Ooo!" Tucker exclaimed, and he immediately kneeled down in front of the coffee table, opposite of Jack. "Are you gonna build some cool vehicle to go exploring?" Jack chuckled, and Danielle sat down next to him, Danny going into the kitchen.

"Maddie's gonna handle most of the blueprints for that, she's the engineer. Right now, I'm mostly doing some research on the Ghost Zone to test what kind of features we'd possibly need," he explained. "No human, that we know of, has ever really been into the Ghost Zone before. We don't know much of what to expect, but I'd like for us to be prepared, what kind of materials we need to buy to build the ship and what features it'll need."

"I hope it all goes well, Dad," Danielle told him, and she leaned into him. Jack shifted to wrap an arm around her, hugging her and pecking her forehead. She winced a bit.

"You okay?" he questioned her. She shrugged.

"It was a long day," she admitted. "Think I'm just a bit sore." He hummed, lightly rubbing her arm.

"If you have any troubles, just let your mom or I know, okay?" Danielle nodded, and she shifted to stand. Danny came back from the kitchen, holding a few bags of snacks.

"We're gonna go upstairs," Danny told his dad, tossing a bag of chips to Tucker. He caught it, opening it eagerly. Jack nodded, and he put his glasses back on, and he returned his focus to the books.

The four moved to head up to Danny's room, and they took their normal spots: Danny and Danielle on the bed, Tucker on the desk chair and Sam claimed the beanbag chair. Danny handed Sam a bag of trail mix, and Danielle accepted a bag of chips. Opening his own chips, the teen sighed and leaned back against his pillow.

"God, I'm exhausted," Danielle grumbled, closing her eyes and slowly eating a chip. "I fell asleep in trig."

"Yeah, I'm surprised Ms. Belle didn't chew you out for it. You were snorting," Tucker teased, and Danielle forced a half-smile.

"Leave her alone, Tuck. Your carelessness today almost got her and Danny killed," Sam scowled at him. Tucker shot her a glare.

" _Me?_ I almost got them killed?" Tucker exclaimed, gesturing to himself. He pointed at her. "You're the only reason this is happening. You _had_ to be unique. You _had_ to take away Pizza Friday, and now some psycho lunch lady is pissed off about it!" He got to his feet, pushing the desk chair in angrily. "And now, come Monday, I'm going to get it back."

"Oh, you're going to change it back!?" Sam demanded to know, rising to her feet, practically steaming. She was shorter than her friend, but she stood on her tiptoes to get into his face. "You still have four days of disgusting meat, but guess what? I'll just make the entire week vegan! Good luck, Tucker, and start getting used to soy because I'm going to change that menu too!"

Tucker scoffed at her, turning on his heel and leaving. Sam, giving a bitter huff, followed, and both twins could hear them angrily storming downstairs, and out their front door.

Danny slumped down to rest his head on the pillow, sighing softly.

"Don't worry," Danielle sighed, lightly patting his knee as she stood up.

"Yeah, I know. Everything will be back to normal by Monday," he sighed, curling up into himself.

* * *

Danielle and Danny stared in disbelief at the sight that was waiting for them that Monday.

"No wonder they didn't wanna come over to play video games," Danielle mused. "They were busting their asses."

To their left, several students were crowded around a makeshift stage. Tucker was on it, holding a microphone and talking to a crowd of students. Many held signs, but several didn't. However, they were all cheering for his ideas: Pizza Friday. Upon noticing the twins, Tucker handed the microphone over to another student, and he shifted to slip off the stage and come towards them.

To the right, other students were near a secondary stage. Sam was on top, shouting into a megaphone about her own idea: Vegan food every day. Somebody was playing music, and multiple students were yelling loudly. Sam perked up a bit, and when she noticed the twins, she handed her megaphone to Juliet, who took over for her. She jumped down from her step and skipped over to them. As she grew closer, the twins could tell that she had also made t-shirts.

"You two...put together two protests in one weekend?" Danielle questioned, putting a hand on her hip.

"Meat-eaters, Dani," Tucker explained, straightening a bit. "Always ready to fight. And our high-protein diets give us the energy we need to do it quickly."

"Vegans are always ready to protest," Sam replied, crossing her arms. She shot Tucker a glare, which he returned. "And because we don't have to waste time cooking our food, we can move even faster."

"Don't you think this is a little extreme?" Danny asked.

"NO!" they both yelled in unison, and the twins winced.

Sam opened her mouth to say something else, but she paused. She looked up at the sky in confusion, and the others followed her gaze. The sky was darkening, and wind was picking up rapidly.

"It's not supposed to be storming today," Tucker mused.

The sky continued to darken a bit more, and a cackle echoed in the distance. Danny jumped as some students screamed, and out of the corner of his eye, a meat truck flew up into the air. The other one followed. Danielle sneezed, and Danny hiccuped.

The meat from the trucks were extracted, and it was added to a pile that was coming from seemingly nowhere. The trucks abandoned, tossed to the side, and the meat twirled in the sky until it made a familiar form.

"It's _lunchtime!_ "

* * *

"Mr. Fenton, Mrs. Fenton. Mrs. Foley, thank you for coming," Mr. Lancer began as the three adults entered his office.

"Of course," Mrs. Foley nodded, and she shifted to set her purse on her lap as she sat down. Jack and Maddie sat down in the other chairs. Jack shifted to put the thermos in his lap, and Maddie set her purse on the ground. "I'm sorry, my husband's out of town."

"I understand," Lancer nodded. "I wanted to discuss a little incident involving your children, Danny and Tucker. They both started a food fight."

"Danny started a food fight?" Maddie echoed in disbelief, giving a frown. "That doesn't sound like him. Are you sure?"

"Agreed," Mrs. Foley spoke up, sounding a bit distressed. "I mean, I know Tucker has a problem with talking in class, but he's always been very fond of lunch."

"Yes, several students fingered him and Mr. Foley as the two who began the food fight," Lancer nodded. "Now, ordinarily, I would give them detention for this and have them clean up the mess, and just consider it to be a bit of upset over some changes to the school's lunch program. However, before I could give them either one their punishment, I had to go away for a while, and when I came back, both boys had run off."

Maddie and Jack glanced at each other worried, and both had the same question in mind. Was this the first sign of psychological problems, as Jazz had mentioned, because of the accident?

* * *

"Guys," Danny barked at Tucker and Sam. "Time to make up. _Now._ " They nodded.

Sam and Tucker immediately hugged each other, forcing Danny in the middle. They closed their eyes, and a bright flash happened. They parted to allow Danny to fly off, and ushered Danielle into their arms. She copied the action, then flew after him.

The lunch lady roared, and she swung a fist at them. Danny turned intangible, and Danielle dodged. A second swing was also successfully avoided, and Danielle flew at her, prepared to punch her as Danny landed a hard kick. Several piles of meat flew away and landed down below.

"They're both getting better," Tucker observed, giving a small smile. Sam was wincing.

"I hope they can take punch," she added on, watching a fist make Danielle go into the dirt. "And a kick." Danny was kicked sky-high.

Danielle groaned painfully as her back hit the dirt, creating a small crater. Her burns were on fire, and she blinked rapidly, holding back tears. She tried to sit up, but couldn't move. After a moment, she gave a heavy sigh, closing her eyes. A bright flash came, and she was human once more. Everything hurt.

Once he recovered from having the wind knocked out of him, Danny gave a few steady breaths. He stopped his ascent, and he began zooming downwards as fast as he could fly. He clenched his fists, and he squinted his eyes as he got closer and closer. Pulling his hand back, he swung at the meat monster as hard as he could. The monster disintegrated, meat flying and landing all over the place, and causing him to fly into the ground from the force.

Danny gave a grunt, rolling onto his stomach and pushing himself to his knees. Shakily, he stood on his feet again, and he cracked his shoulders and wrists. Glancing around, he suddenly noticed that Danielle was gone, and worry began to rise in the pit of his stomach.

"Oh dear!"

Danny forced his attention back on the ghost, the lunch lady. She looked calm once more, but he was no longer fooled by her stupid illusion. She floated closer to him, looking distressed.

"What a mess! Are you okay?" she wondered, cocking her head slightly. Danny raised an eyebrow at her, flexing his hands a bit. That punch hurt.

"Yeah," he said slowly. "I think so."

"TOUGH!" she shrieked, and the flames and evil eye returned, although Danny was not startled by it. "BECAUSE YOU BEING OKAY IS _NOT_ PART OF MY BALANCED DIET OF DOOM!"

She zoomed back a bit, and her hands glowed. Some of the meat around Danny formed into smaller verison of the meat monster that was just destroyed.

One of them made a wheezy, gasping noise and launched for him, and he punched it. The monster instantly turned into a pile of meat. The other four followed the same pattern, but it was all the same. One powerful punch turned the monsters back into a random assortment of lunch meats.

Danny smirked up at the lunch lady, but it fell when he noticed the piles of meat glowing, and it turned back into the five little monsters.

"Well...wasn't expecting that," he admitted, standing up straight. Light blinded him, and he glanced down to see his t-shirt and jeans. "Or that."

The meat monsters took advantage of his distracted attention, and they lunged for him. The grabbed onto him, and took him up into the air. High into the air. Danny's heart began to race. He began to panic a bit.

"Come on, change back," he pleaded to himself. He glanced at the monsters. They were all smirking at him. He watched them carefully, and he screamed the second they let go. Danny turned his attention to the rapidly approaching school roof. "Come on, change back. _**Change back!**_ " He closed his eyes tightly. "I'm going ghost!"

There was a bright flash of light, and he opened his eyes. He turned intangible and invisible, and he began phasing through the school until he hit the basement, passing several classroom and Lancer's office.

He turned tangible, and he landed on his bottom in the school's basement. The teen grasped his chest, giving a weak laugh. He almost died. He almost died for the second time this year. Ha. Ha ha.

Exhaling deeply, he could hear the commotion outside. The lunch lady was still out there, terrorizing people. But he couldn't beat her. He had no clue what to do.

Wait.

He passed Mr. Lancer's office.

He grinned, and he turned intangible, flying back up.

* * *

"I'm not really sure what's causing Danny to suddenly act out like this," Maddie said, running a hand through her hair anxiously. "I mean, he was such a good boy in middle school. He had a few problems with being bullied, but overall, he's always been very good. He's gotten a bit klutzy, but I assumed it was due to developing anxiety." Mrs. Foley nodded in agreement.

Jack tensed up, suddenly sitting up straight. He suddenly felt a...chill.

"Mads, did you feel that?" he questioned.

"Feel what?" Maddie wondered, giving him an odd look. She was too concentrated on the boys to notice.

"It suddenly got cold," he mused.

"Did it?" she wondered, her interest peaked. Mrs. Foley tilted her head, a tad confused, and Lancer raised an eyebrow at the couple. "Do you really think it was a ghost?"

"I dunno," Jack admitted, and he eagerly held up the Fenton Thermos, shaking it excitedly. "But now's a good time to test this baby out." Maddie looked a bit conflicted.

"Sweetie, we're not exactly sure, I mean I left the ghost detector in the car, where you promised me you'd put the thermos," she lightly scolded. "Right now, we're focusing on the boys."

Jack jumped a mile in the air, glancing at his now empty hand. He barely was able to catch a blur of black and white, although he heard the muffled "Thanks for the thermos!"

"GHOST GHOST GHOST!" Jack yelled, and he ran to the door. He flung it open and ran down the hallway.

"We'll have to pick this up another time," Maddie told Lancer apologetically before running after her husband. The vice-principal just stared at them.

* * *

Danny phased up through the ground behind the lunch lady, clutching the thermos. Last night at dinner, Jack had very proudly talked about how the thermos was practically done. It just needed testing.

The lunch lady turned around to face him, and she gave a scowl.

"No! Soup's not on today's menu!" she yelled.

"I'm changing the menu," Danny replied, and he took off the tap of the thermos. "Permanently!"

He glanced nervously at the container. _Please work._

Danny fumbled with it for a moment, and he pressed the button on the side. The thermos glowed a light blue, before a blue stream of energy wrapped around the ghostly lunch lady. She struggled, and she screamed as it slowly began to suck her into the thermos.

The blue energy sucked her in, and once she was contained, Danny closed the container, giving a smirk. It dropped, and his eyes scanned for Danielle.

Tucker had wiggled out from under a pile of meat, and he was helping Sam escape as well. He jogged over to them, and he grabbed Sam's other hand. He and Tucker pulled, and Sam escaped a pile of meat, although she was missing a boot.

"What happened? Where's Danielle?" Sam wondered, searching for the other twin.

"I don't know," Danny frowned. "I lost her during the fight."

"Over there!" Tucker called out, pointing to the teen girl slowly dragging herself to them.

Danny ran for her, immediately wrapping his arm around her to help support her, tucking the thermos under his other arm. She groaned, stretching a bit and leaning into him. Sam came to her other side, helping to support her.

"Are you okay?" Danny asked.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just...sore," Danielle grumbled. "I feel like I was in a car crash."

Danny glanced up, and he anxiously gave Tucker the thermos. He gave it an odd look. He heard Jack's booming voice, and he hid it behind his back.

"Kids!" Jack yelled, and he zoned in on them. He had gotten his ghost hunting gear from the RV. Their mother wasn't far behind him, geared up as well. "Your mother and I just saw a ghost! Did you see anything!?"

"Oh, yeah," Sam shrugged. "Um, they went that way." She pointed to her right. "Can't miss them. Glowing. And floating."

Jack gave them a nod, and he ran. Maddie paused in front of them. She pecked each of the twins' foreheads.

"We'll talk about how you're grounded for the food fight and skipping class," she told them affectionately before following Jack. The twins groaned.

"So," Sam said softly, raising an eyebrow at them. "You guys gonna tell them?"

Danielle shrugged, then winced at the pain.

"Nah. I don't think I will," she said. Danny nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. I think I might have finally figured out what these powers are for, you know?" he said, giving a shrug. "I mean. They make me-"

He jumped when a hand rested on his shoulder. He shifted to look up at Mr. Lancer, who looked furious.

"In a world of trouble," the teacher finished for him.

* * *

"Manson!" Lancer barked through the megaphone Sam had earlier for her protest. "Pick up that T-bone!"

Sam scrunched her face up at the piece of meat. She poked at it with her broom.

"With my hands?" she gagged.

"Foley!" the teacher turned his attention on the other student. "Pick up that vegan wrap."

Tucker looked like he wanted to throw up, and he knelt down near it.

"With my hands?" he whined.

"Ms. Fenton!" Lancer moved on. The girl paused to look at him. "You missed a spot!"

"Kill me now," she requested, but Lancer ignored her.

Danny pushed the heavy broom to sweep up a mix of meat and vegan products. He tripped a bit, and he glared at Dash. The blond snickered from his position, leaning against the dumpster, and Danny growled under his breath at him. He pushed the pile a bit closer to the dumpster.

His eyes glowed a bit, and he put his hand on the dumpster. The dumpster glowed faintly, and it turned intangible.

Dash's snickering was cut off, and he yelped as he went down under the weight of meat. Danny chuckled as Mr. Lancer rushed over to help the jock. He didn't even care if he had to put all the meat in the dumpster again. It was totally worth it.


	3. Parental Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Season 1, Episode 2: Parental Bonding
> 
> When a cursed amulet falls into the twins' hands, it's accidentally gifted to Danny's date to Homecoming.

Danielle hopped down the steps and into the Fenton's basement. She shrugged her backpack off, tossing it off to the side. She gave a deep breath, and she put on her biggest smile before skipping over to her dad.

Jack was sitting in a lawn chair, wearing a soda hat from which he was drowning down some Cola, a fishing pole in hand. He was leaned back against the cushion, sighing a bit happily with his feet propped up on a box.. He also had stacked two boxes to make a make-shift table, where he had an empty bowl of chips.

"Hi, Daddy!" she cheerfully chirped, coming up to the other side of the the make-shift table. She stole a few chips, and she watched as he took his feet off the box and leaned forward to reel in the line. "Whatcha doing?"

Jack glanced up at her, and he grinned. He reeled in the line faster, and he held up the actual line, tugging on it.

"This is the Fenton Ghost Fisher. Right now, I'm using it to collect some data," he replied, and he held up the small box the line was tied to. "This box is recording all sorts of information, so that I can know what kind of features we need to build in our Ghost Zone vehicle."

"Ooh!" Danielle raised an eyebrow, peeking over his shoulder at the box as Jack began to physically write down all the data onto a notebook. Part of it was actual interest, but it was mostly to suck up for her eventual question.

"Yup!" Jack chuckled, and he finished writing up the data. He shifted to put the notebook aside, and he casted the line again. The box went past the green barrier that separated the two from the Ghost Zone. He began to lean back, but seemed to think against it. "Ah, need to go use the restroom. Soda shoots through me like Sherman through Georgia," he mused, and he glanced over at his bowl. "And more fritos. Dani, sweetie, you mind holding this for about five minutes?"

"Sure," Danielle lightly lied. She did mind, she was going to be late for school at this point, but she accepted the fishing pole as her dad got up. He grabbed his bowl of chips, pecking her forehead before heading upstairs.

She exhaled deeply, plopping into his lawn chair. She lazily bounced her leg, waiting impatiently for her dad to return as she rested the pole on the makeshift table. The girl sneezed, and she glanced around curiously for the source of her ghost sense.

The fishing line began to straighten, and Danielle grabbed the pole. She snapped to her feet, walking around the lawn chair and pulling the line. Something on the other end resisted, and tugged back. Danielle dug her heels into the ground, holding onto the line firmly and pulling it backwards. She took a few steps backwards, giving a few grunts as she struggled.

The line broke, and she fell onto her behind. She held up the fishing rod, wincing. Hopefully Dad's equipment wasn't permanently gone.

A shadow appeared near her feel, and she looked up. Something was coming out of the portal, something much bigger than the ectopuses. Her heart pounded as she realized that it was four times her size, and it was only a foot. A head came out, the head of a dragon. It snorted, steam escaping it's nostrils. It was holding part of the broken line, the box hanging from it. The dragon let go of it, and the box fell to the ground.

"...D-Dad?" Danielle called out, voice a tad shaky. "Danny?"

"I want to go!" the dragon roared, and soon, the entire body came out from the portal's entrance. With each step, Danielle backed up a bit, doing a backward crab walk. She flipped onto her knees, standing up and running towards the door, only to be grabbed.

"DAD!" she yelled, but she had a very strong feeling that he couldn't hear her. They soundproofed the walls of the lab to prevent her and her siblings from waking up or being disturbed by noises in the lab.

"I have to go!" the dragon roared. Danielle took a deep breath. She could do this. It'd be her first time facing a foe without Danny, but it was only a gigantic dragon.

"Well, you'll have to wait in line behind my dad," Danielle replied. A flash of light later, and Danielle phased out of the dragon's grip.

The dragon seemed surprised, but immediately swiped a claw at her. Danielle dodged it, and she flew for her chest with a strong kick. The creature was knocked back, and down onto the ground. A golden amulet flew off, and it fell onto the floor.

The dragon hit the floor, and it laid there for a moment before it began to slowly morph, changing. She slowly floated down to the ground, taking a few hesitant steps forward as the dragon changed into...a girl. A lovely blonde-haired girl with bright red eyes, green skin and a medieval-looking white dress. The girl had shifted to sit on her knees, hands covering her face.

"...Hello?" Danielle hesitantly called out. The girl glanced up at her, wiping her eyes before staring at the ground.

"All I wanted was to go to the Princess Costume Ball," the ghost spoke quietly. Danielle felt a bit sorry for her. The ghost burst into tears, and she began to wail. The sudden shift in mood caused Danielle to jump. "And my horrid brother won't let me!"

Before Danielle could approach her further or ask anything, the ghost took off into the portal with a long, mournful cry. Danielle stared at the portal for a few moments, almost sure that the ghost was going to come back. After a minute, she tore her gaze away to glance at the ground, spying the amulet and broken line, along with the now-dented data box.

She turned back into her human form, kneeling down to grab the amulet. She looked it over. It was beautiful. Was the dragon-the girl wearing this? Danielle couldn't remember. It wasn't there before, and it didn't belong to Jazz or their mom. It had to be hers. She pocketed it for now.

Scooping up the data-box, she re-tied the box to the line. Once she felt it was secure, she threw it back into the Ghost Zone, gripping the pole tightly.

Jack hopped down barely seconds after Danielle sat down on the box he was using as a footrest. He had replaced the sodas in his hat, and a bowl full of chips with another small container of dip.

"Ahh, sweet relief," he grinned, and he sat down in the lawn chair. Danielle smile, turning to face him and giving him the fishing pole. Jack accepted it, giving her a nod. "Thanks, Princess."

"No problem," Danielle smiled. Now was her chance. "Daddy, can I have $10 to buy a Homecoming ticket?"

"I won't give you $10," Jack said thoughtfully. "But I'll pay you $50 if you clean up the lab before Friday."

Hmmm, $50. For that, Danielle could get the ticket and a cute dress from off a clearance race, especially on top of the money she already had. Maybe even some cute shoes too.

"Deal," she agreed, and he gave a nod.

"Now go on, you're going to be late for school."

Danielle stood up, giving him a hug before rushing up the stairs, grabbing her backpack again on the way up.

* * *

Insert Theme Song

* * *

Sam smoothed her skirt out as she sat down next to Danielle with their lunches, across from Juliet and Jenny, a dark brown haired with blue highlights girl that was also good friends with the main group. Eric was on the other side of Jenny, next to Danny. Tucker sat on Danielle's other side.

"I can't wait for Homecoming," Juliet immediately spoke up, giving a dreamy sigh as she dipped a celery stick into some ranch dressing. "It's our first Homecoming, it's going to be great!"

"Has anybody been asked yet?" Danielle wondered, unwrapping her sandwich and taking a bite. "Or asked somebody."

"Nope, and I'm not accepting any dates," Sam replied firmly, taking a bite of her apple. "I don't need a guy to ask me or escort me to have a good time, and I can have fun on my own or with my friends." Danielle gave her an odd look. Oh well. Her choice, she guessed.

"That's a good way of looking at it," Juliet smiled, biting her celery stick. "Lots of girls on the team are adamant that if they're not asked, they're not gonna go. It's so negative, I wanna go either way."

"I have a date," Jenny confessed. "Nobody asked though. I actually asked Luke."

"You asked Luke? Like from my soccer team Luke?" Eric questioned, raising an eyebrow. Jenny nodded, and Danielle focused on her food. She wished she had that kind of confidence too, to be able to just ask somebody instead of praying that somebody would ask her. "Dude's cool, but he's kinda...dark."

"I think it makes him unique," Jenny defended him. "He's Goth."

"Meanwhile, I asked over fifty girls, and they all said no," Tucker complained, and he leaned his cheek against the palm of his hand, grumbling as he popped a Pringles into his mouth.

"Dude, you gotta ask them in a nice way. You know, a way that makes them feel special," Eric told him, gesturing with his hands.

"Like how?" Tucker wondered.

"Like maybe a way that doesn't make them feel like they're the fifty-first girl you've asked?" Danielle suggested, raising an eyebrow at him. Tucker stuck his tongue out at her.

"Well, when I asked Mia, I brought her some flowers, I had a little speech prepared where I said that I liked her and that I'd really like it if she went with me," Eric explained. "And she said yes."

"We should all do something afterwards," Sam mused, poking her spork at her veggie casserole.

"Girls can all come over to my place before and afterwards, have a sleepover," Juliet suggested, giving a grin at the idea. "It'll be great, my sister will be home, she can do our hair."

"I always loved how your sister did her hair," Jenny exclaimed. Juliet's older sister, a college freshman, was always dying her hair a crazy color or doing impressive hairstyles. Jenny had coined her the queen of Pinterest hairstyles and makeup.

"My sister's likely gonna go out or do some stuff with her boyfriend, so I can see if my parents would be cool if guys came to my place," Eric shrugged. Tucker seemed to brighten up a bit. Eric's house had a pool.

"Did anybody wanna go dress shopping together?" Sam questioned, taking another bite of veggie casserole.

"Yeah, we can see what they have on clearance at the mall," Juliet spoke up. She glanced at the Eric. "You should find out what kind of dress Mia's gonna wear so that her corsage will match."

"And his tie," Danielle added. Juliet nodded in agreement. Eric didn't seem to hear her. He, Danny and Tucker all shared the same happy daze, staring off. "Um...Eric? Tuck? Danny?"

Sam followed their gaze towards a girl. The new girl, to be specific, Paulina Sanchez. She was a dark haired girl, in a simple pink top and jeans, in their French class. She was walking down the pathway from the school to an area on the lawn, a packed lunchbox in hand. She was alone, and she had adjusted to sit underneath a tree, back resting against the trunk. Sam noticed that multiple male students were staring.

"Oh, please," Sam scoffed. "Paulina? Girls like her are a dime a dozen."

"Quick, how much change you got?" Danny joked to Eric. The soccer player dug through his pockets to produce a few loose change to dump on the table, Tucker doing the same.

"Haha, very funny," Sam commented dryly.

"Maybe we should ask her to sit with us," Juliet mused, opening a container of yogurt. "She's all alone. That's gotta be rough."

"Yeah, she probably doesn't have any friends yet. It's her first week," Danielle agreed. Sam huffed a bit.

"She's probably just gonna turn into one of those preppy popular girls," Sam insisted. She finished off her food.

"Maybe. But you can't judge a book by it's cover," Jenny piped up.

"Exactly!" Eric agreed, pointing at Jenny before jerking a thumb at Danny. "Which is why Danny's gonna go to that library and check out that book."

"What!?" Danny coughed, choking on his chips. "Why me?"

"Cause," Eric rolled his eyes as if it was obvious. "I already got a date and Tucker's bad with girls." Tucker scowled.

"Eric, we're talking about befriending her, not becoming her Homecoming date," Danielle reminded him, giving the other teen a pointed Look.

"Well, we can do both," Eric protested.

"Nah, I can't," Danny shook his head, putting his food down. "I just, I get weak-kneed talking to cute girls."

"Oh, but you don't have problems talking to us?" Sam questioned, raising an eyebrow. Danny's eyes grew wide, and he made an anxious choking sound again as he struggled to come up with an answer.

"Don't answer, it's a trap!" Tucker whispered quickly to him.

"Save it," Sam replied, waving him off. "Go give your weak knee some exercise."

Danny turned a bright pink. Eric making a gesture towards Paulina, and Danny hesitantly stood up. He took a few steps forward, glancing backwards. Eric and Tucker were ushering him on.

"Oh, this is going to be good," Danielle muttered to Jenny, who snorted in amusement.

Danny felt his legs shaking with every step towards Paulina. She didn't seem to notice him, focused on scrolling through something on her phone. He could turn around and run away. He was almost right there. Oh God, she was even prettier up close. Danny took a deep breath, and he glanced at his table. Eric and Tucker were watching intensely.

"Um, hey," Danny began, and he leaned an arm against the tree trunk. Paulina tore her stare away from her phone and up at him, looking at him questioningly. Danny felt the anxiety building up. "I-"

His hand turned intangible, and Danny lost his balance. He fell into the tree, smacking against the bark. He flung his arm out for a branch to catch himself, but it was still intangible and he fell backwards.

"Are you alright?" Paulina questioned. She had set her phone down and straightened herself up to check over him briefly. Danny wanted to die.

"I'm fine," he replied quickly. He scrambled to his feet. His cheeks were burning red, and he wiped some grass from his jeans. "I just, uh-"

"Please don't say you've suddenly fallen for me," Paulina requested, her tone giving a bit of a pleading groan, rolling her eyes. She leaned back against the tree, taking a bite of her yogurt before reaching for her phone. "That line is sooo junior high."

"Heh, yeah. I-I mean. No!" Danny stammered, waving his hands a bit. She didn't pick up her phone again, staring at him instead. He cleared his throat. "That's not it. I'm...I'm...Danny."

"I'm Paulina," she introduced herself, giving a light smile. "I think I have a class with your sister, Danielle? You guys are twins, right?"

"Yeah, Danielle's my sister," Danny's voice was shaky, and he continued to fumble over his words. "I was just, uh, you know…"

Paulina raised an eyebrow at him, and she burst into giggles. Danny heard a chorus of laughs around him, and his heart raced anxiously. He felt a breeze against his legs, and he glanced down just in time to see his pants falling down. Now was the absolute worst time for intangibility to act up.

His cheeks burned dark, and he quickly reached down to pick his pants up. He fumbled with them, trying to get them up. Eric facepalmed, Sam and Tucker stared off sympathetically. Danielle and Jenny were joining the chorus of snickers and laughs. Juliet was trying to hold in a laugh, hand over her mouth with eyes that clearly felt sorry for him.

"Well, a gentleman normally tips his hat," Paulina laughed. "But I have to give you points for originality."

Sam shot Danielle a glare, jerking her head at Danny. The half-ghost smirked, shaking her head. The goth gave a disgusted scoff at her, and she got up from her seat, walking off to join Danny. She patted his back lightly, walking up next to him.

"Kudos, Danny," she commented dryly. "You just set an all-time speed record for drowning in the shallow end of the gene pool." Paulina narrowed her eyes at her.

"Oh no," she huffed. Paulina snapped to her feet, crossing her arms at her. "You did not just call me shallow, did you?"

"If you mean do I think that I can stand in a puddle full of you and not get my feet wet," Sam hummed, crossing her arms in return. Danny managed to finally get his pants situation under control, glancing anxiously between the two. "Then, yeah."

"Shallow!?" Paulina scowled. "I am not shallow!"

Sam rolled her eyes at her. She grabbed Danny's forearm, pulling him back to the table. He was too flushed, embarrassed to protest, and he instead hung his head a bit and slunked after her. Paulina huffed at them once more, picking up her lunch to relocate.

* * *

Danny slumped against the lockers, banging his forehead slowly on the metal repeatedly. His cheeks were still flushed a bright pink. Danielle patted his back sympathetically before opening her locker.

"On the bright side, thanks to you, I now know the quickest way to a woman's heart," Tucker tried to joke, leaning on the locker on his opposite side. "Clean boxers."

"I blew it," was all Danny could muster out. "I should never listen to Eric. I had the tiniest of chances, and I freaking blew it."

"Plenty of fish in the sea, Danny," Danielle reminded him, exchanging things out of her locker.

"She's probably not going to even look at me now," Danny softly whined, banging his head on the locker extra hard. He winced from the impact.

"Danny?"

The trio's attention shot to the familiar voice. Paulina was right there. Danny instantly became more alert.

"Or not," Danielle commented to him a sing-song voice. She shifted to quickly walk away.

"Good luck!" Tucker whispered to him, following her as they went to their trig class early.

They walked around the corner, but didn't quite leave yet. They hung around, watching. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Paulina gave a confident smile, and Danny returned with a shy one.

"Uh...hey," Danny spoke a bit quietly. This felt a bit unreal.

"Hey," Paulina replied, giving a brief nod. "We didn't really get much of a chance to talk before...your little wardrobe malfunction." She said it teasingly, but Danny's cheeks still burned a bit. "What class do you have next?"

"Astronomy," Danny said, and he felt his heart race. He had a bit of a chance. She was still talking to him. "I love space. I wanna be an astronaut."

"I have astronomy too, but that's just mostly because it was the only elective that fit my schedule," Paulina confessed. Made sense, there was only twenty kids in the astronomy class. "Do you wanna walk there with me? I'm not sure where it is."

Danny fumbled off to the side and into a locker. The door was slammed shut behind him, and he groaned a bit. Once he gained his sense, he checked out the locker. A poster of Dumpty Humpty, a mirror, several crumbled up papers and books with a bunch of other junk. This was Danielle's locker. Oh thank god, he knew the combination.

He shifted to try and open it. No such luck, and he scowled. He could hear Dash on the other side, and he peeked out to see him talking with Paulina. He was leaning on the locker, and he wouldn't let Danny push it open. Maybe he could phase out? No, that'd be suspicious. Either way, he tried to focus on doing so.

"Uh...should we do something?" Tucker wondered to Danielle. The girl made a face at Dash.

"Oh hell yes we are," she scowled. "Cover me."

Before Tucker could even really do anything, Danielle had turned invisible, and she was gone.

Careful to avoid other students that were beginning to crowd the hallway, Danielle went right up behind Dash. She put her hands on his shoulders, ready to push him off to the side, and she paused. Her hands began to sink into him, and Danielle began to panic. Trying to jerk her hands away, she began to slip through him. No, wait, she was...inside Dash?

"I also…" Dash had continued to brag about himself when he suddenly...stopped. He stood up straight, and the football in his hand fell to the ground. A passing student scooped it up and offered it back to him, and 'Dash' quickly took it back.

"You also…?" Paulina questioned, motioning her hand to tell him to continue on.

"In...Dash's body?" Danielle spoke, completely confused. She glanced down at the football in her hands. These weren't her hands. She was so tall, Paulina was tiny compared to him. The lockers seemed small now. Most students passing him seemed small. He felt weird looking down at Paulina rather than being able to meet the other eye to eye. The girl across from her shot her a bizarre look.

"Excuse me?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Right," Danielle said slowly, opening and closing one of Dash's hands. She glanced down the hallway. Nobody else was looking at them weird. "Well, besides from being a football star, I'm also president of the Casper High Geek Club, and I have every toenail I've ever clipped in a jar. I carry it around with me, wanna see?"

Paulina's face scrunched up in disgust, and she looked a bit repulsed.

"No," she said firmly, voice deadpanned. Good, she looked incredibly grossed out.

"What can I say? I love feet. I scrub my mom's feet every night," Danielle proclaimed, and she got down on Dash's knee to pick up Paulina's foot. Paulina squealed, jerking her foot away from him.

"Ew, ew, EW!" she shrieked, backing up. "Get away from me!"

Danielle forced Dash to do a fake pout, but she sprung him to his feet and began to skip off as girly as she could do. She had him walk into the girl's restroom down the hall, and many feminine screams and yells echoed in the halls before Danielle finally left him and went into a safe spot to turn visible.

"Are you okay?" Paulina's voice questioned, and Danny stayed quiet, but he jerked a bit. Wait, was she talking to him? "Do I need to get a janitor, or teacher?"

"Uh, yeah! I'm fine." He was quiet for a moment. "Uh, nah. This is my sister's locker, I know the combination."

"Oh, okay," Paulina spoke, and she shifted to hold her items in one hand so that she could open the locker with the other. "What is it?"

Danny recited it, and thankfully, the door opened a moment later. He tried to step out gracefully, but instead tripped on some of Danielle's junk and fell out onto his face. His cheeks flushed dark again, and he stayed on the floor a moment.

"You okay?" Paulina questioned, kneeling near him.

"Uh, yeah," Danny quickly stuttered out. He rolled onto his back and sat up. "Just...kinda cramped in there." He winced at all the crap that had fallen out of the locker with him. Danielle needed to clean her freaking locker out.

"I can imagine," she replied, watching Danny get to his knees to begin gathering his sister's stuff. She put her books on the floor and moved to help pick up some of the papers and other stuff. Her eye caught something shiny, and she gave an amazed gasp. Paulina picked up a golden and green amulet, examining it. "This amulet's lovely," she amazed. She set it on top of the pile of papers she had collected, and handed it to Danny. Danny's heart raced a bit.

"You like it?" he questioned.

"Of course, it's beautiful," she smiled.

"That's great!" Danny commented, and he shoved Danielle's crap back into her messy locker, quickly closing it before it all came tumbling out again. He kept the amulet in his hand however, and handed it to her as she had gotten back on her feet. "Cause it's for you. I got it, for you. It must have fallen out of my pocket."

"Really?" Paulina questioned, eyes wide as she hesitantly accepted the jewelry. She glanced over it.

"Yeah, I-I wanted to ask you to Homecoming, and if you said yes I thought I'd like, you know, wanted to give you something, and t-that's what it would have been!" Danny lied, and he stood up as well. "It's for you."

Paulina's cheeks flushed a bit, but she was beaming. Danny's own cheeks turned several shades darker.

"Well, you are very sweet, and kind of cute," she mused. She cracked a smile. "Good taste in underwear," she teased. Danny's entire face was nearly red. "I'd love to go with you." She held out her books, and Danny accepted them. She moved her hair, and she put the amulet on.

Danny was beaming, but also slightly anxious. What the hell did he do? That wasn't his. That was Danielle's. Or Jazz's. Maybe even his mom's. He's never seen any of them wear it before, but then again, he never paid that much attention to it. Oh god, how was it going to explain that to her?

Paulina moved to take her books back, and he shook his head.

"Nah, I got them. We have our next class together anyway," he reminded her, and she smiled back at him.

"Thank you," she replied politely, and she walked with him towards the class. Both were too caught up in other things to really notice the necklace softly glowing.

"Like that display?" Danielle whispered to Tucker. The boy jumped a mile in the air in surprise.

"What the hell was that?" he exclaimed. "What happened?"

"I dunno. I was just going to push him, but then I was like...sucked into him," Danielle explained. "Like, I possessed him or something. I took control of his body, and I embarrassed him." She sounded incredibly proud. "Now he's a weirdo in Paulina's eyes, and Danny's got a date."

"Yeah, but I think he gave away one of your necklaces," Tucker mused. Danielle gave him a weird look, and so he continued. "Like, he said he had jewelry to give her, and he gave her this gold and green necklace thing."

"I don't wear gold," Danielle reminded him, crossing her arms as she thought. Then it hit her. She left the amulet in her locker. Her eyes grew wide. "Okay, I gotta go talk to Danny real quick, I'll meet you in class."

"I think the bell's about to ring though," Tucker said, and he glanced up at the ceiling, then his PDA. "Actually, I think it already did. Or should have. It's been way longer than five minutes."

"I know, but this is important," Danielle assured him, and she ignored what else he had to say in favor of rushing towards the astronomy. As Tucker predicted, the bell rang, and she sighed. Best to just talk to him at home.

"Late again, Miss Fenton?"

Fuuuu.

Danielle slowly spun on her heel to see the balding English teacher, giving her a stern look.

"I was just headed to class," she spoke a bit quickly. Mr. Lancer frowned, shaking his head.

"This is the fourth time this week," he reminded her. He glanced at his stack of papers, and he began to jot down something. Danielle winced more. "I'm sending you home with a note. Have your parents sign it." Danielle relaxed a bit. She could easily forge her mom's signature again. "And I'll be calling them to check that you had them sign it this time."

"Oh come on!" she whined. "Why would you do that!?"

Mr. Lancer shot her a glare, raising an eyebrow. He flipped to a new page.

"Alright then," he mused, and he handed her another piece of paper. Danielle's heart sank. "We can do a parent-teacher conference instead." He scribbled a bit more on another piece of paper before handing it to her as well. A note to excuse her being absent this time. "Here. Now run along to class."

Danielle scowled, crumbling the papers in her hands as she stormed off to class.

* * *

As soon as she got home from school, Danielle began to fill the lab's sink up with hot, soapy water. As the water ran, she dumped various beakers and test tubes, finished sample trays and tools that needed to be clean into the water. With most of the dishes soaking, cleaning up the lab was fairly simple. Dad was a bit sloppy, but Mom was also very neat and tidy about cleaning up and pulling tools away.

Putting things back in their place, tools back in toolboxes, wiping down the counters and sweeping and mopping up the floor. Dishes were always the most annoying part, and it often took a lot of hard scrubbing to get dried ectoplasm out of the beakers with the scrub brushes. Research and notes, she always just put in stacks and left them on the tables. They were there for a reason.

Her dad was also there when she had come down, in his makeshift chair and table with his notebook and stuff to collect data. Danielle often liked it when her dad was down there with her while she was cleaning up. While she could always play their radio, this was normally when Dad talked a lot about non-ghosts things: funny stories from his life, how he met and eventually married Mom, what life was like when the kids were little. Of course, ghosts often came into play, given that his and Maddie's first date was literally spending the night in a haunted house in hopes of seeing a ghost or how he was so sure that there was a ghost living in Jazz's room in their old house, but it was nice.

"Jazz cried the entire time. Maddie ended up having to cut her hair to get the gum out," Jack chuckled, causing Danielle to snort. "She was heartbroken, but she got her revenge. She convinced the Welle boy to eat the radiated hot dogs Maddie had made. It made him sick, but silly boy tried to go back for seconds anyway."

"He's so dumb," Danielle snickered.

"Well, his family was poor," Jack reminded her. "He's lucky he didn't have to go to the hospital."

Danielle smiled, and she finished scrubbing up the last bit of the beakers. She put the last bit on the rack to dry off. Thank God, it was over.

"I'm done," she announced, finally able to throw the dish towel that was on her shoulder onto the counter. Thank God, it took forever.

"Thanks, Princess," Jack chirped cheerfully. He shifted to get his wallet out from his pocket, and Danielle eagerly came over. He held out a few bills, equalling the promised $50.

"Thank you!" she replied politely, accepting it and putting it in his pocket. Yes!

"Your welcome," her dad sighed, and he settled back into his chair. "How's school?"

Danielle froze. The parent teacher conference form. It was in her pocket, in a crumpled ball, and she winced.

"Uh, good," she lied. Great, now she had to approach Mom with this.

"Good," Jack nodded, giving a grin before turning serious, concerned. "Listen, I know you and Danny have been having some problems lately. Being tardy, sleeping in class, late homework, food fights, etc. I really don't want to have to escalate punishments to keep you both in line. You're good kids. Your mom's been really worried about you two lately, and I hope both of you know that if you're having problems, you can come to me or your mom for anything. I mean anything."

Danielle winced. Crap. Dad was the better option, and she just messed it up.

"Um...well, Dad. Actually," she began, shifting from foot to foot. Jack glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, giving her a Look. "I talked to Mr. Lancer today…" she trailed off.

"And? Are you in trouble?" he asked, staring at her. His phone beeped, and he tore his gaze away to look at it and turn it off. "Keep talking, I just gotta reel this in."

He rapidly began to bring the data box back in from the Ghost Zone, reeling it up until he could rest it on the make-shift footstool.

"Mr. Lancer…" Danielle began again, her breathe getting caught in her throat, watching her dad got down a bunch of information on the chart he had in front of him. Her eyes lit up, and she gave a small smirk.

She casually strolled around to his back. Putting her hands near his back, she turned intangible and phase them through him. Like before, she felt herself being pulled into the body. Jack stiffened, and he sat up straight.

"Would like to have a word with me!" 'Jack' chirped cheerfully.

* * *

"You did WHAT!?" Danielle winced at Danny's yelling.

"I can't risk getting in trouble again!" Danielle hissed. Sam and Tucker watched in silence as the two argue, sitting across from them at the lunch table. "Dad was really peeved and worried, Mom is too. If I can avoid it, then I'll avoid."

"This is such crap. How did you even figured out how to do that!?" Danny demanded to know.

"I was trying to help you with Dash yesterday, and just...it kind of happened," she confessed. "Look. If I didn't do what I did, Dash would have stolen your date, and we'd probably both be more heavily watched by Mom and Dad," Danielle frowned. Danny sighed, putting his face in his hands for a few moments. He rubbed his eyes with the palms before exhaling heavily, leaning against his seat.

"Fine. But don't possess Mom or Dad again," he told her. Danielle gave a nod in agreement. "And you need to teach me that possession thing, since I will be going to that parent-teacher conference."

" _You're_ going to go?" Danielle questioned.

"Yeah, you already screwed up a lot, I'm taking charge," Danny frowned. His sister shrugged.

"Fine. It's after school today," she said, waving his hand off.

"You need to teach me all the other stuff too. How the hell are you so much more advanced than me anyway?" Danny demanded to know. "How did you even change your ghost outfit?"

"Yeah, I wanna know too," Sam mused. "I really like it. I like the green touches."

"Thanks. It took a while to figure out, but everything else was just...practice, I guess?" Danielle shrugged, and she took a bite of her burger.

"Okay, so wait," Tucker spoke thoughtfully, holding his hand up. "You can just walk into people and take over their bodies from the inside?" Danielle gave a questioning look before giving a nod and shrug. "So...Danielle. If you can control a girl for just about two minutes…"

Danielle scrunched up her nose, and Sam rolled her eyes.

"No, that's creepy. You can get your own date for the dance," Danielle told him, giving a frown. Sam patted Tucker's arm a bit sympathetically.

"Look. We'll help you out," she offered. "Who do you _really_ wanna ask?"

Tucker thought for a moment, munching on a fry.

"Well…," he spoke slowly. "You guys did say that Juliet liked me, and...well, she is really pretty and nice. Maybe her?"

"Awww," Sam and Danielle cooed in unison. Tucker scowled at them, flushing darkly.

"Stop that!" he whined. He threw a fry at Danielle. She ducked, but it still hit her, and she laughed as she picked it up off of her arm to pop into her mouth.

Danny perked up, and he waved eagerly. His friends followed his gaze, spotting Paulina coming over with her lunch. Danielle scooted down a bit, Danny following the lead to open up a spot for her next to him.

"Ugh, does she have to?" Sam grumbled under her breath.

"Come on, Danny likes her," Danielle lightly scolded. Sam gave a huff, but she didn't comment any further.

"What happened to the whole non-judging thing?" Tucker questioned, earning a grumble.

"It's not judging, I just know her type," Sam scoffed.

"You've never even talked to her," Danny frowned, and they cut the conversation as Paulina took a seat on Danny's other side, and she gave a shy smile. "Uh, guys, this is Paulina. Paulina, this is my sister Danielle, and my friends Sam and Tucker."

"Hello!" Paulina greeted them. Her tone was a bit quiet and anxious. She got pleasant replies in return.

"We were just talking about how we were going to help Tucker ask somebody to Homecoming," Danielle informed her. Tucker made a face at her, and Paulina glanced at him curiously.

"Aren't you the guy that asked out _every_ girl on the cheer team?" she questioned, and Tucker turned a bit red.

"You know the cheer team?" Sam questioned, raising an eyebrow. Paulina nodded.

"Yeah, I was on cheer in middle school and in high school before I moved, I talked to the coach about joining the team. It's a bit late, but she let me try out," she explained. Sam shot Danielle a 'I told you so' look, but the half-ghost ignored it.

"Did they let you on?" Tucker wondered.

"Yeah!" Paulina beamed. "I'll probably be mostly an extra at the Homecoming game, but I don't mind. It's still fun. Do you know who you were wanting to ask?"

"Juliet Reinol."

"Oh, I know her," Paulina perked up a bit at a familiar name. "She's in one of my classes. She's very sweet."

"Yeah. She's actually coming with us to go dress shopping tomorrow, if you wanna come," Danielle offered, and Sam's eyes grew wide in horror.

"That sounds fun!"

Sam looked like she wanted to scream, and Danielle gave her a light glare to prevent any comments.

"Okay, so Tucker, I have an idea on how to ask Juliet, if you're wanting to hear," Paulina changed the subject again. Tucker raised an eyebrow.

* * *

"Thank you for meeting with me again to discuss the twins' schooling, Mr. Fenton."

'Jack' gave a nervous grin, and Danny was sure that he was sweating bullets. This trick was incredibly hard to master, and he was terrified that he was going to mess it up, despite doing fairly well with possessing (a semi reluctant) Sam and Tucker.

"Of course!" he replied, pointing to himself. "I'm a parent, and that's what parents do! Right?"

Mr. Lancer smiled, and Danny took it as a good sign. Mr. Lancer opened up two of the files on his desk, and he slipped on some reading glasses.

"Well, Danielle has been having a lot of tardies, recently. And Danny's been sleeping more and more in class," Mr. Lancer began.

"Ah, yeah. I expected such things! They study so hard and long, they don't get much sleep!" Danny chirped. He internally winced. Oh god, was that even believable? "Also, their portal injuries keep them up at night, electrical burns, ya know? Makes it hard for them to move to places quickly too. Doctors said the muscles would be sore for a bit. Can't get the kids to move cause of the pain sometimes." It was at least a bit true. Plus, their doctors did basically excuse them from gym that year for those exact reasons.

Mr. Lancer gave a thoughtful look, clasping his hands together. The gears seemed to be shifting in his mind, and Danny's heart pumped anxiously.

"That would explain things," he said slowly.

"It worked?" Danny wondered. He glanced up at Mr. Lancer to see the vice principal giving him a weird look. "I mean, of course you understand. No wonder all of my kids look up to you so much."

"They do?" Lancer raised an eyebrow. Flattery always worked. Lancer's eyes went to his wall, giving a small smile. Danny followed his gaze. The wall had multiple photos of students, many being of Lancer and a student at graduation. Danny could only guess that they were some of the "troubled" students Lancer had taught over the years.

"Oh, definitely!" Danny had his father give the teacher a charming grin, leaning forward to rest his arm on the desk. "We Fentons consider teachers to be underpaid and under-appreciated! You know kids these days."

Mr. Lancer smiled brightly, and Danny internally cheered. The teacher closed the files in front of them.

"Thank you, Mr. Fenton. I take great pride and joy in my work," he told him. "Considering the circumstances, I'll alert their teachers of their medical issues. We're always happy to accommodate students as best we can. But they mustn't take advantage of it."

'Jack' nodded. "Of course. I've raised good kids."

"I like your style, Mr. Fenton," Lancer nodded, and he did a brief search of his desk to pull out a flyer. "I'd like you to help chaperone the Homecoming dance this weekend. We had a parent drop last minute. You seem like the type that really knows how to connect to kids, that understand them and can get them to really follow rules."

"Chaperone?" Danny echoed. "Oh, I, uh, I'm not sure-"

"I am," Lancer said firmly, with a smile. "I'll see you Saturday."

Danny froze, giving a bit of a grimace.

* * *

"You'd look so cute in a nice pastel color."

"You think? I had pink in mind, it's my favorite color."

"Pink is so cute, I think a nice teal or green would look good too, to match your eyes?"

"Oh, true. I think you'd look really good in a light blue."

"You think? I really love blue, but I was thinking maybe a green or light orange, Tucker looks good in those colors too, and I want him to match me."

Sam gritted her teeth, eyebrow twitching as she watched Juliet and Paulina chat excitedly about dresses. The girls were instant friends, and chatting a mile a minute on the escalator in front of them. Danielle elbowed her.

"What?" Sam hissed at her.

"Don't say anything," she warned her in a hushed tone, and Sam just scowled. She was clearly not happy about their shopping guest.

"It was supposed to be just you, Juliet, Jenny and I," she reminded her, her volume low to prevent the others from hearing. Jenny had a last minute dentist appointment to fix a problem with her braces.

"Come on, Danny really likes her," Danielle frowned, keeping her voice low too. "I bet you'd like her too if you got to know her."

Sam opened her mouth, to comment that girls like her were a dime and dozen and that she was shallow, but Juliet had unintentionally cut her off.

"Where do you guys wanna go first?" Juliet questioned, and Sam took a deep breath before shrugging.

"I'm fine with anywhere."

"Let's go to H&M," Paulina suggested. "They normally have really cute stuff."

Sam rolled her eyes, but hissed as she got elbowed again.

* * *

"All right!" Eric high-fived Tucker, who looked incredibly pleased with himself, before quickly moving back to the game before them.

"Not gonna lie, I kinda expected her to say no," Danny admitted, and Tucker gave a smug smirk. He was leaning against the arcade game, waiting to play the winner.

"Fifty-first time's the charm," Tucker bragged, and he slammed down rapidly on the button. His on screen character landed the final blow on Eric's. "I guess today's just my lucky day."

Danny cracked a smile, but it disappeared as he hiccuped. Eric gestured to the game, but Danny shook his head.

"I, uh, gotta use the restroom," he lied. "You go ahead and play another round."

Tucker gave a concerned look, while Eric had shrugged it off, and he began to put more coins into the game.

* * *

"This would look adorable on you," Paulina insisted, handed Juliet a knee length orange and brown dress from off the rack. Juliet looked at it questioningly, before giving a smile and a nod.

"It is pretty cute!" she agreed, and she put it over her arm along with two other dresses. "I'm going to go try it on right now!"

"I hope we don't lose Juliet to the prep crowd," Sam muttered to Danielle, watching the girl skip past them to the changing room. The other two girls were at a different rack with some darker colored dresses, and Danielle rolled her eyes.

"We're not losing Juliet. I thought you'd like this. Juliet was always convincing you to wear pastel," Danielle teased, and she took a dark green dress off the rack. She liked it, and she put it over her arm to try on a bit.

"Oo!" Paulina suddenly gasped loudly, and they glanced over at her. Paulina was eagerly shifting through a rack of green dresses. After going through them all, she gave a frown. She picked up a dress, reluctantly putting it over her arm. "I'll be right back, I'm going to go see if they have this in a small."

Danielle nodded in acknowledgement before returning her attention to the rack. So many of the dresses were spaghetti-strapped, or strapless. Was that in style now? They looked so cute. Should she get one? A small tingle in her upper arm reminded her of the scars. She didn't really want to show them. They were ugly, and very visible. Maybe she could find a jacket to wear over it. She picked up two to try on, and two dresses with sleeves.

"Hey Sam, here's a cute purple and black one," she pointed out, shifting to show her. For the first time since they got to the mall, Sam broke into a smile.

"It's really nice," she admitted, and she took it off the rack to examine it further.

Danielle's face scrunched up, and she sneezed into her elbow. Sam glanced at Dani just in time to see the red smoke.

"Can you hold my dresses?" she requested. Sam nodded, holding out her arm and accepting the small pile. Danielle ducked into the rack, and a bright light later, was gone.

Dani phased out of the store, and she only had to look for a moment before spotting the ghost, the same blue and green dragon ghost from a few days ago, as well as her brother. Danny threw a punch at the ghost, causing the dragon to roar and be flung several feet.

"It's the same dragon from before," Danielle commented, mostly to herself as she came up beside Danny.

"Wait, same dragon from before?" Danny glared. Danielle winced.

"Yeah, I forgot to-"

She was cut off when the dragon smacked them with it's tail, sending them both flying. Danielle groaned as she hit a wall before she slid down and fell onto the floor. Quickly, gotta pick herself up and go, quick quick! With a pained grumble to herself, she looked up to see Danny had already picked himself up, and he was throwing more punches before being grabbed in the dragon's claw. Danielle finally scrambled to her feet, and she flew for them, slamming into the dragon.

Taken by surprise, the dragon let go as they were flown towards a store. Danny had been dropped, and Danielle dove to grab him before he hit the ground.

"Hey, where did the dragon go?" he questioned. Danielle glanced up, and she saw that the dragon had disappeared.

"I think it ran away," she observed, and she let go of Danny as her brother began to float normally. "It's the second time I fought that dragon, and that amulet-"

"What amulet?" Danny interrupted.

"The amulet, that the dragon was wearing, you g-," Danielle began to explain, and Danny held up a hang.

"I gotta meet up with Tuck and Eric. I've been in the bathroom for like ten minutes now," he told her. "Update me when we get home, we need to do some research."

Danielle nodded, and they parted ways. Danielle invisibly flew to a clothing rack from within the store to change back in. She exited, immediately pausing upon seeing Paulina on the floor, looking a bit dazed. The half-ghost knelt down next to her.

"Are you okay?" she questioned. Paulina seemed surprised to see her, and she put her hand on her head.

"Yeah. I think I tripped," she said, her tone confused. Her hand dropped down to her neck, and her expression dropped. "My necklace!"

Danielle's eyes darted around, and she spotted the jewelry. Paulina spotted it too, and before Danielle could pick it up, the other had already grabbed it. She sighed in relief as she put her necklace back on.

"Oh, thank god," she sighed. "I thought I lost it." Danielle bit her lip.

"Yeah. What happened?" she questioned.

"I just..I remember asking the sales lady if this dress came in my size, but she said it didn't…" Paulina paused, trying to recall as Danielle helped her up. "I got upset, and then, I think I just walked away and tripped."

Danielle glanced at the necklace. It had a subtle, faint glow the more emotional Paulina was getting. They really needed to do more research.

"Come on. Let's go find something else," she suggested. "There's a ton of dresses here."

Paulina gave a nod and smile before following her back to Juliet and Sam.

* * *

"I dunno, I'm not really sure I wanna go all that much anymore," Danielle sighed, finishing packing up her bag. She looked in the vanity mirror she shared with Jazz, observing her scar-covered shoulders. They were exposed with the sleeveless shirt she was wearing. She glanced up at her laptop, where the four were on voice chat in their private discord server. She was beginning to feel a bit anxious and queasy, and she picked up her dress to observe it. Sure would be a shame to basically never wear this pretty dress though. She spent a long time scrubbing the lab to pay for it.

"Is it cause nobody asked you?" Tucker's voice teased.

"Well, maybe if I was as pretty as fucking Paulina," she hissed, her hands doing a death-grip on the dress in her hand. She wanted to tear it apart. She settled for throwing it into her bag harshly, giving a huff as she picked up the fashionable jacket Jazz was letting her borrow to wear over it, since the dress had thin straps, and roughly shoving it into the bag as well.

"Hey, hey, hey," her brother's voice called out over the laptop's speakers. She could faintly hear him from his room down the hallway. "First Sam, now you? Why are you both so down on her? So she's pretty, it's not a crime."

"Looks can be deceiving, Danny," Sam reminded him. She seemed pleased that Danielle was apparently on board with being against Paulina.

"Look, did you guys get any research on the dragon?" Danny changed the subject. Danielle glanced at the bedroom door. While Jazz had left a while ago, her date had suggested they hang out before Homecoming, but she was still a bit nervous that she was going to suddenly return and intrude on the conversation.

"Yeah, I'll link you all what I got based on Danielle's description," Tucker replied, and Danielle heard the notification from the message being sent, and she opened the link. There was a beautiful blonde girl with bright green eyes, wearing the amulet she had seen. The girl looked very similar to the young woman who cried about not being able to go to the ball. She was smiling, but she didn't look happy. She was posed next to a gray-haired man, who had a neutral, but somehow angry, expression.

"Can one of you read it aloud? I'm still packing for the sleepover," Sam called.

"Medieval ghostly legend held that the cursed Amulets of Aragon could transform the wearer into dragon form under extreme emotional distress or anger," Danielle read aloud from the website, shifting to sit on her bed. "This amulet is made from a rare form of dragonstone, casted in pure gold and contains, according to legends, the ground up bones of a dragon." Danielle zoomed in on the amulet, and she raised an eyebrow. "That's the amulet Paulina's been wearing."

"You mean I accidentally gave my date an ancient, powerful amulet that turns her into a dragon whenever she gets upset?"

"...Looks like it."

Danielle could hear Danny groan loudly down the hallway.

"Look. I got the Fenton Thermos, and Dad's unbreakable ghost fishing line. Just in case," Danny's voice came through on discord. "Do you guys have your ectoguns?"

"I got mine," Sam replied. "I put it in my bag, I have this cute as hell bat purse that I'm going to carry."

"I'll put mine in my jacket," Tucker reported.

"I'm skipping it. Cause, you know, ghost powers. But I can carry the thermos or fishing line," Danielle offered.

"If you can carry the thermos, that'd be a big help," Danny admitted.

"I have one of those cool secret agent style thigh bags that you can borrow," Sam offered. "I'll pack it."

"Sounds good," Danielle sighed. "So, what's going to be our game plan for this?"

"I'll focus on getting the amulet back. I wanna keep close to Paulina, I don't wanna blow it again."

"Yeah, sure. Don't wanna blow it with the shall-"

" _Sam."_

"Okay, okay. I'll stop. Jeez. Danielle should focus on your dad, make sure he doesn't get too close to Lancer. I'll go back and forth between Paulina and Lancer."

"I'll do the same," Tucker piped up. "I wanna make sure I can pay attention to Juliet."

"Yeah," Danielle sighed. "Sounds good. I'm basically done packed. I'm going to start walking to Juliet's. Want me to wait for you Sam?"

"Nah, my parents are going to drop me off on their way to date night," Sam replied. "Want us to swing by so you don't have to walk?"

"It's cool, I'm probably just going to fly, if we're being honest."

"Alright. Stay safe! See you in a bit!"

Danny and Tucker's voice echoed the farewells, and Danielle exited the voice call. She closed her laptop, slipping on her jacket and zipping it up. She picked up her bag, walking down the hallway and knocking on Danny's door. Danny opened it, and he answered it with thermos in hand.

"Thanks for carrying it," he told her, giving a smile.

"Yeah, no problem," Danielle sighed, forcing a smile as she adjusted her bag to shove the thermos in. "I'll see you at Homecoming."

She gave a wave, and Danny heard her go downstairs, calling out a goodbye to their parents before leaving. He paused, looking at the discord call from his laptop, which had gone quiet. He could hear Tucker and Sam fiddling around, getting ready.

"...She really wants a date," Danny sighed to his friends.

"How come she didn't just ask somebody herself then, like Jenny did?" Tucker wondered aloud.

"Danielle's scars from the accident are more noticeable, most of them are on her arms and shoulders, her chest and stuff," Danny explained, and he sat down on his bed, glancing over at the nightstand, where the laptop was resting. He felt his own scars burn a bit, and he grabbed his thighs, lightly massaging down his legs to soothe it. That always seemed to help. "She hasn't worn anything but long sleeves since the portal thing, she's probably so insecure." He gave a long sigh. "I've been too wrapped up in school and ghosts and Paulina to do anything about it."

"It's not your fault, man," Tucker reassured him. "You couldn't have made a guy ask her or something. And a guy worth her time would overlook the scars anyway. Looks aren't everything."

"I know, but I wish I still talked to her or something, I dunno. She's my twin. We tell each other everything."

"Don't beat yourself up, Danny," Sam tagged onto the conversation. "I'm sure she'll have a great time without a date. Danielle's still a pretty girl. I bet she'll have offers to dance from guys who were too chicken to ask out a girl."

"I hope you guys are right. I'm going to hang up now, I'm gonna go finish getting ready," he sighed.

"I need to as well," Tucker agreed.

"Yeah, my mom's about ready to go. Remember the game plan."

"Right. I'm on getting the amulet back duty, Danielle's watching my dad, you and Tucker are free agents going back and forth," Danny repeated it.

"Sounds good. See you guys in a bit," Tucker spoke before his line went down. Danny clicked to exist, and he shut down has laptop before going to get ready.

A shower later and dressed in a nice suit, Danny came down the stairs, a bit anxious. His suit was a normal dark gray one, a normal white button down. Unable to secure a tie that matched his date's dress, he had settled for instead a navy blue one that matched his suit well enough. For once, his hair was not spiked, but smoothly styled down with gel.

Downstairs, his mom was adjusting a tie that his dad had put on (against his will) over his jumpsuit.

"I don't understand why I have to wear this stupid thing," he grumbled as Maddie fixed it up.

"Because, it's Danny and Danielle's first dance," Maddie smiled, patting it and standing back to observe it. Like her husband, she too was in her jumpsuit. Danny was already embarrassed just based on the fact that they were going to Homecoming wearing it. "We don't want to embarrass Danny in front of his little girlfriend."

"Mooom," Danny groaned, and his mom shifted to give him a small smile. Danny went to the counter, where he had kept the light pink corsage he had gotten. Danielle had told him of the color of dress Paulina had eventually gotten. "She's not my girlfriend. She's just going to the dance with me."

"That's great though!" Jack cheerfully boomed. "I can meet her, and I can talk to her about ghosts!"

Danny paled a bit, and he let out another groan. Ugh, this was going to be awful.

"Now, now Jack," Maddie smiled, patting her husband's arm. "Let's save that for when she comes over for dinner." Jack gave a pout.

"You know, it's a bit funny," he mused, scratching his head. "I don't even remember volunteering to chaperone. I mean, I kind of remember it? It's all a weird, vague blur."

Danny froze a bit, but quickly picked up the corsage. His mom looked a bit concerned at Jack's statement.

"I'm ready to go," he announced, trying to prevent his mom from asking a follow-up question. Maddie had her mouth open to ask Jack about it, but the question did the trick. She gave a nod, patting Jack's arm as she went to fish around for her keys.

"Alright, let's get rolling then. Don't want to be late."

* * *

Danielle sat still as Juliet's older sister, Susie, finished off braiding her hair.

"Annnd, done," she announced. She lightly patted her shoulder before handing her a mirror. Danielle accepted it, and she glanced at it.

"It looks so pretty!" Juliet eagerly told her. Danielle grinned. It was half-up, the bun in a complex braid with some small black and red pins in it to match her dress. Her dress was had thin straps, and it came to her knees, being red with darker red rose patterns and outlines, a black lace covering the skirt. Danielle also had the black crop-top jacket over it, sleeves going to her wrists. Her shoes, low black heels with a red ribbon, were waiting by the door until it was time to go. Danielle had already secretly put on the bag Sam had given her to borrow. It had the thermos, which, surprisingly, didn't really stick out due to the ruffles of the dress.

"Thanks, Susie," Danielle glanced behind her at the older ginger, who gave a smile.

"No problem," she told her, and she gave a sigh, standing to get out of the chair she had been sitting in, Danielle shuffling to get off from her seat on the ground. "I'm going to go back to watching my movie. Have fun, little dorks." It was said teasingly, and she lazily strolled into the hallway and down the stairs.

"It's almost time to leave," Sam noted, nodding at the clock as she put in her bat earrings. The goth had a black corset dress with a dark purple skirt, strapless though she had put a fishnet jacket over it. She wore bat leggings underneath it, as well as fingerless black gloves. Instead of having Juliet's sister style her hair, Sam had instead curled her own hair and pinned the top half up with a clip in the shape of a bat.

"I'm almost done," Paulina called out. She took a moment to glance at the clock before applying her lipstick. Susie had done a waterfall hairstyle on Paulina, curling the ends. The teen had eventually picked out a light pink and white strapless dress that hugged her waist tightly before flowing just past her knee.

"I'm so excited!" Juliet clasped her hands together, bouncing a bit excitedly. She had gone with her brown dress with the orange ribbon that tied around it, making a bow in the back, strapless as well. Ginger hair was neatly tied into a side braid, a matching orange hair band tying it off and hanging on her left shoulder.

Once Danielle was to her feet, she held her hands out to Juliet. She eagerly took it, and they bounced together, giggling.

"You two are lucky you're not wearing heels yet," Sam smirked at them, giving a snicker.

"Yeah, I probably would have broken my ankles already," Juliet agreed, and they both stopped bouncing around for a bit. "You almost ready?"

"Almost...almost...and yes!" Paulina declared. She beamed at her reflection in the mirror on Juliet's wall before turning to her friends.

"Yup, I'm ready," Sam agreed. She put the back on her earring before smoothing out her dress.

"I'll go tell my mom," Juliet offered, and she skipped off to find her.

"I'm still surprised you even agreed to go with my brother," Danielle commented lightly to Paulina. Sam gave a small snort of amusement.

"Yeah. I can't believe his freaking belt malfunctioned. It'd only happen to Danny," Sam half-agreed, tossing in the lie. Paulina flushed lightly.

"He seems really sweet. He was the first person to ask me nicely, instead of being kind of rude or snobby about it," she explained. Paulina fiddled with her thumbs a bit. "A lot of guys on the football team had asked, but they were really weird about it. Danny kind of was too, but it was...I dunno. It was a cute weird, charming. They were kind of aggressive. And he got me my necklace too." Paulina touched the charm that hung around her neck, and Danielle and Sam stared at it, exchanging a quick glance at each other.

"Danny's got a good heart," Danielle replied honestly.

"Yeah," Sam piped up. "He'll treat you really nicely." She fidgeted a bit. "But uh."

Before either girl could bring up the necklace, Juliet popped her head in through the door.

"Mom's ready!" she announced. The girls quickly gathered their last minute items and went to the car.

* * *

"Mo _om_ ," Danny half-whined, half-hissed. "Please, go inside!"

"Don't tell me, you're embarrassed of us," Maddie teased, and Danny's flush deepened.

" _Moooom!_ "

"We're going," Maddie chuckled, and she shifted to link her arm with Jack's as he met up with her after getting out of the passenger's seat. "Take pictures though. And invite her for dinner, we want to meet her."

"I will," Danny quickly promised. He clutched the corsage in his hands anxiously, and he began to rush towards the front of the school as his parents followed at a leisurely pace. His eyes scanned the crowd for his friends, and he spotted Tucker with Juliet. A woman he recognized as Juliet's mom was taking pictures of them. Juliet was here, meaning Paulina had to be close by. He saw Sam headed inside, along with other people he recognized. He assumed Danielle had already found Lancer and was trailing him.

"Hey!" Speaking of Paulina.

Danny whipped around to see his date, and his hearted fluttered in excitement. She looked incredible, and he nervously offered out his corsage. Paulina beamed, and she held her wrist out for him to slip it on. He did, hands shaking a bit. She didn't comment on it, and when he finished, she slipped her hand into his.

"Ready to go inside?" she asked.

"Sure," he agreed, giving a friendly smile, which she returned. He opened the door for her, earning a thanks before trailing in with her.

The gym was nicely decorated, and music was already playing. He didn't recognize the song, but Paulina seemed to. She bounced excitedly, tugging on his hand.

"Come on, let's dance!" she told him. He nodded eagerly, allowing her to lead him to the dance floor.

* * *

Danielle and Sam had immediately dove for the food when they got inside. They got their plate of snacks and juice before finding a table near the back, far from the noise and easy to keep an eye on everybody.

"I still can't believe Jenny asked Luke," Danielle commented, watching the goth couple hanging out together on the sidelines. Neither danced, and so they were mostly sticking to each other, stealing a chance for PDA when the chaperones weren't looking.

"Eh, they're kinda perfect for each other," Sam mused. "I'm surprised Danny is still pining after Paulina. She's so shallow."

"She's...not that bad," Danielle tried to defend her, popping a chip into her mouth. Sam snorted in amusement, shifting to pull another chair closer to her. She slipped out of her heels to pop her feet up on the chair.

"You were ragging on her too in the discord call earlier," she reminded her, raising an eyebrow. Danielle sighed, staring down at the punch and taking a sip.

"Yeah...Just...I didn't mean it," she replied, taking a second, deeper sigh as she collected her thoughts. "Or, like, I kind of meant it, but you know. It's not her." Sam gave her a sympathetic smile, chewing on a pretzel.

"Insecurity?" she questioned. Danielle instinctively moved to put a hand on her shoulder.

"The scars aren't pretty," Danielle replied, her tone falling a bit flat. "You've seen them. They hurt too."

"Dani, you're gorgeous with them. I'd say even more. They're unique. Unique is good," Sam assured her. She had a warm, sincere smile, and Danielle didn't doubt for a moment that Sam meant her words. But even so, it didn't quite ease her insecurity about possibly taking off her jacket. It felt like every other girl there was wearing strapless or sleeveless dresses, showing off scarless shoulders and arms without a care in the world.

"Thanks," she said, even though it was kind of quiet. Danielle noticed Danny going after Paulina, who was rushing towards the bathrooms. "Uh oh. Looks like Danny blew it," she teased.

Sam turned her attention to the scene, and she snorted in amusement.

"I'll handle this. You go get Lancer."

Danielle glanced over at the teacher, who was steadily making his way towards her parents. She froze, but soon nodded, and the two went together towards the adults before separating.

"Mr. Lancer!" she called out. The teacher immediately stopped to turn his attention to the teenager.

"Yes, Ms. Fenton?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Mr. Lancer, I saw some kids smoking out behind the school," she lied. "They kept throwing cigarette butts all over the place." Mr. Lancer's eyes narrowed, and he thanked her while he rushed off, muttering some specific names that she didn't recognize.

* * *

Sam strolled up to Danny, who had to stop at the bathroom entrance. He glanced over his shoulder, look defeated.

"I screwed up," he confessed.

"Figured," she lightly teased him, lightly patting his shoulder. "What happened?" Danny bit his lip.

"I told her that I had to have the amulet back," he began, "and she took it bad, like I didn't like her anymore or something? It was hard to tell, she began to cry, and I-I felt so bad and-" Danielle put his hand up to silence him.

"I got this. Go keep an eye on your dad." Danny looked at the bathroom for a moment, giving a sigh and nod before sulking over to a table where he could watch his dad without much distraction.

Sam went into the bathroom, hearing soft crying. She found Paulina over one of the sinks. Her makeup was ruined, and she had some paper towels clutched in her hands, trying to prevent the makeup from getting onto her dress.

"Hey," Sam spoke softly, and Paulina just sniffed. She wiped an eye with one of the paper towels. "You okay?"

"No." Paulina's voice was shakey, upset and her lower lip quivering. "Your friend's being an asshole." She paused. "No offense." Sam resisted the urge to snap at her, her eyes focused on the amulet around Paulina's neck. It was lightly glowing with Paulina's emotions beginning to flare up.

"Yeah, I've known him since the first grade. I know what you mean," she said. She dispensed another paper towel to hand to Paulina, who accepted it. She tossed the ones she had been holding, which was dirty and smeared in makeup, before beginning to wipe her eyes with the fresh new one. "What happened?"

Paulina didn't speak at first. Instead, she sniffled a bit more and dabbed at her eyes before she finally began to talk.

"Danny wants me to give the amulet he gave me back," she explained. Her eyes were still watery, and she sniffed. "He said it belonged to you, and that he forgot that when he gave it to me." She clutched the paper towels in her hands tightly, lower lip quivering. "So he lied to me this entire time? He said he got me that amulet just for me."

"My amulet?" Sam echoed, completely confused. "That's not...Yeah." She caught onto Danny's lie. "Yeah, uh, that's actually mine. I think there was a mixup. Danny asked Danielle and I to go shopping to help him pick out something for you because he wanted to ask you to the dance, and I had gotten that amulet, and Danny instead got you this other amulet, and I think that things just got mixed up." She cringed at her own lie. It was terrible. Why was she even helping Danny get with this shallow witch? "Danny really likes you. He's just...kind of awkward sometimes."

Paulina sniffed. The amulet's glow had entirely settled and was appearing as any other amulet.

"Really?" she questioned, perking up. Sam nodded. Paulina finished wiping her eyes. She seemed to be done crying for now. Paulina hesitantly reached around to the back of her neck, undoing the necklace. It looked like it pained her to remove it, but she forced a smile. "Well, here. Turn around!" Paulina motioned for Sam to turn, holding the necklace up. Sam immediately put her hands up.

"Oh, no, it doesn't match my dress!" she stammered.

"Nonsense! You should enjoy your amulet!" Paulina insisted, and she stepped forward to begin latching it around Sam's neck. She tensed up, but allowed it. After all, she just made this big show of owning it. Wouldn't it look suspicious to not want it back or to want to wear it?

Once it was latched around the goth's neck, Paulina took a step back and smiled.

"See? It looks good on you!" she told her. Paulina glanced in the mirror, and she made a face. "God, I look like a mess."

Sam glanced at the bat purse on her shoulder. She gave an internal groan at what she was about to do.

"You probably can't really use my concealer, but if you wanna redo your eyeliner, I brought some," Sam offered, beginning to unzip her purse. Paulina gave a lightly amused hum.

"I don't need concealer," she replied, her tone a bit too arrogant for Sam's taste. "I have perfectly flawless skin." Sam rolled her eyes.

"Well, I have eyeliner, some eyeshadow and lipstick if you wanna borrow it," Sam repeated her offer.

After a moment of thinking, Paulina nodded. She dampened a paper towel to clean off the remaining make-up that had stubbornly clung to her. After a brief wash and try, Paulina had accepted the palette of eyeshadow Sam had given to her. She made a face at it.

"It's...a lot of dark colors," she commented, trying to keep her tone friendly, but Sam could sense the disgust underneath it.

"They're beautiful colors," Sam argued with her, frowning. Paulina shrugged, and she picked the lighted color on the palette, a deep purple. She began to apply the color as lightly as she possibly could. Sam forced herself to calm down. "Look, I'm really sorry about calling you shallow when we first met. It's just...you know...Danny's one of my best friends. I didn't want to see him get hurt."

"I understand," Paulina put the application brush for the eyeshadow back in the container as she moved to pick up the eyeliner. With an expert hand, she swiftly redid her makeup with ease. "I mean, if we're being honest, I kind of only went back to talk to Danny to piss you off."

Sam felt like she had just gotten slapped in the face as she gawked at the other.

"Wh-what?"

"Yeah." Paulina's cheeks seemed to grow a bit flustered at her confession. "I mean, he's not really my normal type. I really like athletic guys, and did you see all the scarring on Danny's legs, like when his pants fell down? I mean, I had heard he was in an accident, but I didn't know it was that bad. And he's so... _dorky_. But I've found the more time I spend with him, the more I do actually enjoy his company. He's really sweet and thoughtful."

Sam's hands began to shake hard in anger.

"Y-y-you!" she began to sputter out. The necklace began to glow, but Sam didn't notice it. "You bitch! You shallow little witch!" With every word, her voice had become deeper, more growl-like and she had begun to shift into a familiar dragon.

Paulina glanced over to see what was up. She dropped the eyeliner pen upon seeing the dragon, turning pale. Seconds later, she fainted.

* * *

Danny had slumped at a table, staring blankly out at the couples dancing. He saw Eric with his date getting punch and talking to Dash and Valerie, a popular girl he had asked to the dance. Her best friend, Star, was also in the circle but Danny noticed Kwan getting two cups of punch. Juliet had convinced Tucker to dance with her, albeit they were dancing a bit awkwardly, but both were smiling brightly and seemed to be having a good time. He put his head in his arms, feeling a depressive mood wash over him.

"Ah, Mr. Fenton!" Danny's head snapped to attention. Mainly because the sentence wasn't directed to him, but his dad.

He saw Mr. Lancer making his way over to his dad. His eyes widened in horror, and he shot up from his table to rush over. Soon as he was within seeing distance, he blended into a crowd of students, desperately pushing his way through to sneak up behind his dad. Once behind his dad, he turned intangible, putting his hands on his back. He shivered as he felt himself being sucked in, and soon, he opened his eyes to look down and see large, jumpsuit covered hands.

"Mr. Fenton?"

'Jack''s eyes looked up to meet Mr. Lancer, who was waiting for an answer.

"Jack, honey, are you okay?" Maddie questioned. She too was giving him a weird look.

"Oh, I think I ate something weird," he lied. His eyes looked around for a familiar face. Where was Sam and Paulina? Shouldn't they be out by now? He spotted Danielle. She was talking to a boy by the punch table. "I'm gonna go get us some punch!"

Before either adult could question things, 'Jack' quickly walked off, wading through a crowd of students.

"Excuse me! Excuse me! Adult coming through. I shave every day," he said, occasionally lightly pushing a kid off to the side. He came up to Danielle, and he put his hand on her shoulder. "Dani!"

Danielle instantly turned around, bright red-faced. The boy she was speaking too grew wide-eyed at the sight of an adult, and he quickly scurried off.

"Dad!" she squeaked. "I swear, he's just a friend! We were just talking!" Danny narrowed his eyes. That'd have to wait for another time.

"It's Danny," he hissed through his dad's teeth. "Sam and Paulina went into the bathroom ages ago. Can you check on them? Give me a call if you see them."

Danielle gave a nod, and she began to make her way to the restroom. After she left, Danny hiccuped, and he noticed a blue mist. For now, he invisibly left his dad and phased out of the ceiling to look for the ghost.

* * *

Danielle stepped into the bathroom to notice that the entire ceiling was gone, giving a perfect view of a ghostly dragon flying off into the night. She narrowed her eyes, twin rings transforming her before she flew off after them. Speeding up, she managed to slam her fist into the back of the dragon, sending it into the football field. She followed suit, noticing a blurred black and white figure zooming towards them in an attempt to catch up. Danielle flew to the ground in front of the dragon. She couldn't just beat up the ghost like she had done before. This wasn't just a ghost, this was a human.

"Look, Paulina! Take it easy! You don't wanna hurt Sam!" Danielle spoke up, glancing off to her side as Danny landed next to her. He paused.

"Wait, Paulina?" he seemed surprised, and Danielle finally took notice that the girl clutched in the claws of the dragon wasn't their friend, but Danny's date.

"Sam?" Danielle questioned, glancing at the dragon. The dragon growled, and it began to shift onto it's hind legs.

"Shallow girl!"

"Yup. That's Sam," Danny commented dryly. The dragon took a deep inhale before breathing fire at the twin. Danielle yelped as she flew out of the way, Danny staying and turning intangible. Soon as the fire let up, he looked up at the towering beast. "Whoa. Sam. Two words: Breath mints."

He flew towards Paulina, grabbing her from her grasp, arms wrapped around her tightly. Sam roared, using her other hand to slap them out of the air. Danny clutched Paulina hard against him, heart pounding as he shifted their position and turned intangible. He slammed against the fence behind the bleachers.

Danny jumped at hearing shocked gasps, and his attention snapped to a couple. He recognized the two as Dash and his date, but he couldn't remember the girl's name. His cheeks instantly turned a light green.

"Uh, sorry!" he apologized, but he didn't continue as he noticed a section of the bleachers being lifted, a dragon glaring at them and roaring. Dash and his date instantly screamed, grabbing onto each other before making a run for it. Danny felt his phone vibrating, and he checked to see the caller ID. Tucker. He kept an arm around Paulina, turning intangible and phasing them both through the ground and to underneath another section of bleachers before answering. Before he could say a word, Tucker's voice blurted out over the phone.

"Dude! Lancer's getting close to your dad! I can't find Danielle or Sam anywhere though!"

"They're both with me, I'm on my way!" Danny assured him, simply hanging up. He flew towards Sam, grabbing her by the tail. Giving a small grunt, he managed to pick her up. "I hate to do this, Sam!"

Danny began to swing her in circles before flinging her off into the distance.

"Danny! You okay?"

Danny glanced over his shoulder at his sister.

"I gotta go get dad!" he told her. "You go get that amulet." Danielle nodded.

"Give me the Fenton Fisher!" she called out. Danny pulled it out from an inner jumpsuit pocket, tossing it at her as he sped off towards the school.

* * *

Jack felt like he was in a bit of a fog. He remembered coming to the dance, and that he was chaperoning, but he couldn't quite remember exactly what he was doing. The man eventually got punch and had wandered for a bit, supervising some of the older kids who were getting a bit too handsy for their own good.

Soon, he noticed Maddie, talking to Mr Lancer. That parent-teacher conference that he supposedly had was a blur, and he couldn't bring up any details over it. He made his way over to the two.

"Hello Mr. Lancer," he greeted him. The teacher gave a smile and friendly nod in return. "I actually have some questions." Mr. Lancer gave a curious "oh?" and motioned for him to go ahead and speak. "It's really odd, but I've had a lot of vague, blurred memories lately."

An invisible Danny flew at his dad, not bothering to slowly overshadow as he had done previously, but instead flew right into him. 'Jack' stiffened, blinking rapidly. His eyes darted around, and he saw his mom and teacher staring at him, as if expecting him to talk.

"Uh, but uh, we can always talk about this later," he said, trying to give an anxious grin. "Right now, all I'd like to do is dance with my wife. That's what we adults do, dance with our wives."

He grabbed his surprised mom's hand, pulling her towards the dance floor. The second they were on the dance floor, he left his dad and flew out of the gym.

* * *

Danielle grinned, staring at the eyes of the dragon version of one of her best friends. She clutched the Fenton Fisher in her hands tightly as if it was a sword.

"Hate to say this, Sam, but you throw fire like a girl!" she called out to her. The dragon growled and began to charge.

Danielle flew at her, flicking the rod almost expertly at her. The line caught onto a wing, and she began to zoom in circle around her, ensnaring her while dodging swipes and fire. Wings and arms pinned to her, the dragon stared helplessly at her before falling to the ground. Danielle followed suit. The second her feet touched the ground, she ran for her, grabbing the amulet and ripping it off.

The second the amulet was off, the dragon began to slowly shift. Within moments, instead of a dragon laid Sam in a mess of fishing line, slowly sitting up. Danielle turned human, and she dropped next to Sam.

"Are you alright?" she asked. Sam blinked, putting a hand to her head as she glanced around at her surroundings.

"Wha-? Did-Did I have fun at the dance?" Sam slurred slightly.

"Well, let's just say you had a roaring time," Danielle teased. Sam smiled, lightly punching Danielle in the shoulder, who returned the light punch before picking up the forgotten fishing rod to reel in the line.

* * *

Danny smiled in relief when he noticed his sister and friend collecting the Fenton Fisher line. He stayed hovered in the air for a moment before something hit him. He turned invisible, and he went down by the bleachers, turning human before doing a light jog towards where he had last seen Paulina.

She had come to, and she was slowly walking back towards the gym, arms covering her shoulders. Danny quickly slipped his suit jacket off, hurrying up behind her and putting it on her. Paulina jumped in surprise, but happily pulled the jacket around her more snugly. Danny hadn't noticed how much the temperature had dropped.

"I'm so sorry about earlier," Danny immediately apologized. "I was being an ass." Paulina gave a soft smile in return.

"Thank you. I gave Sam the amulet back," she said, her voice a bit deflated. Danny bit his lower lip.

"You know, Homecoming's still got a half hour left. Did you want to go back and dance?" Paulina's eyes sparkled.

"I'd really like that."

Danny hesitantly put his arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him. He felt his cheeks burn, but he happily walked her back into the dance. Maybe he still had a shot.


End file.
